A Paragon for Justice
by RunRiverRun
Summary: Gotham City has always been known for the infamous evils that spawn from its depths; gangs, psychopaths, super villains you name it Gotham has it. A merciless city ran by creatures of the night. But to some, like Ethan, this cruel place is home and everyday is a fight for survival. (This is a Robin/OMC story meaning m/m)
1. Chapter 1

Hospitals always made Ethan feel uneasy; the lingering atmosphere of misery in the air, clinical smells and desperate looking patients combined to make it an awful place to be. It was something Ethan could never force himself to get used to, no matter how many times he came here.

It wasn't like this normally but tonight seemed to be turning out to be one of those nights.

The usually docile waiting room was full of tired people crowded together in uncomfortable silence; some held loved ones close whispering to one another, others sat heads resting in the palm of their hands silently mourning while the rest nervously watched the staff members come and go.

Ethan stood far away from everyone else leaning against the wall near the nurses office, he hated crowds preferring to be in his own secluded space.

A stretcher wheeled past the teenager an unconscious man atop of it, Ethan could see blood soaking through the guy's shirt and he looked away clenching his jaw.

There had been a mass shooting in bar not two blocks from here, if the whispers going round were to be believed it had something to do with Two-Face but nobody was willing to speak about it openly, too fearful of being over heard by the wrong person.

It made Ethan angry.

He didn't think anyone should be afraid to speak their mind.

If he tilted his head just right Ethan swore he could hear the sirens wailing away in the streets outside, although Ethan struggled to remember a time he _couldn't_ hear sirens in Gotham, if anyone else in the room could hear them they made sure to pretend they didn't.

It left a sour taste on Ethan's tongue watching these people, he thought about what some of them might have witnessed tonight.

Had they seen people die? People they know? People they love?

Had they discovered how quickly their situation can change in this city.

Ethan hoped not, he hoped they weren't experiencing what he had all those years ago. One night was all it had taken to turn his entire world upside-down...

All of the seriously injured patients were immediately wheeled past Ethan further into the hospital, only a few in the waiting room were hurt nothing life threatening mainly scrapes and bruises, the more serious damage was in their hearts and minds.

But the image of their suffering burned itself into Ethan's mind bringing up memories of a boy sitting in this exact room, with the exact same expression, trying to hold together a life that was crumbling away.

Ethan clenched his fists tightly. He pushed away those thoughts, he had only come to check on his mother, she hadn't been a victim of this latest outburst of gun violence but she was still a victim of the endless turf wars that ran in Gotham's underbelly.

It had been Black Mask back then now it was Two-Face, different villains same affect, innocent people die.

 _Sick bastards the lot of them._ Ethan thought spitefully.

Ethan noticed a young girl clutched tightly in her mother's arms watching his hands with wide eyes, realization dawned on him as he looked down at his clenched fists inwardly cursing at himself for his lack of control. He had turned his fists to crystal again.

As he relaxed his muscles the crystal turned back to flesh which made the girl gasp, Ethan made a quick exit not giving anyone else time to notice or question him.

Fear made people do dumb things and he didn't need them turning into an angry mob because he was pissed at the world and couldn't control his powers.

Ethan rounded the corner honing in on the nearest unoccupied nurse he could see, the man he walked up to was scribbling away on a notepad but looked up when he approached. If Ethan had taken the scowl off his face in time the man might have been more welcoming to him instead the nurse tensed warily watching the teen get closer.

Ethan stood tall, wide shouldered and muscular. His Mother had always said that he took after his Dad although Ethan was more slight than he had been.

"Can I help you?" The nurse spoke with a guarded tone.

"I need to see my Mom"

The male nurse sighed.

"I'm sorry kid, but if she's in surgery you are going to have to wait, we're-"

"Busy. I know. Any idiot can see that. And she's not in surgery, she's a long time patient over in the B wing, _Mary...Mary Tucker_ , I've got ID if you need it, all I need to do is check up on her"

Again the nurse sighed this one heavier and weighed with stress.

"With everything going on today we can't afford to turn our focus elsewhere"

Ethan felt himself grow desperate.

"Please, I can't...I can't wait in that room anymore, I just need to make sure she's okay then I can go home"

The nurses eyes were sympathetic knowing how awful it was to see all those people forced here by the actions of one mad man.

Ethan also suspected that the nurse recognized him, he was a regular visitor to the hospital after-all and if he knew who he was then he probably knew about the sad story attached to the name Tucker.

He didn't say anything more instead he nodded ushering Ethan down the corridor buzzing him through the security doors into B wing and quickly escorting him towards his Mother's room.

Despite all the chaos going on this hospital was one of the best there was, it wasn't anything like Gotham Central but for those with strained health care costs it was practical.

The nurse lead Ethan down familiar hallways buzzing open another set of security doors then stopping outside of a single red door, again he didn't speak instead he gave Ethan a gentle pat on the back then turned on his heel leaving the teenager to see himself in.

Ethan had been here a few days ago, following the exact same routine he always had; check up on her, stare at her till his eyes burned, get himself upset about how unfair the world was then leave before his powers started acting up.

As much as it pained him to see her like this Ethan kept coming back, he _had_ to, he needed to see her so he knew why he kept trying.

Mary Tucker lay as she had for years brown hair gathered around her head like a halo steady pulse and the ghost of a smile on her lips.

Ethan immediately snapped up the clipboard at the end of her bed as he entered sitting down next to her. He couldn't make much from the information on it but reading seemed to calm him down a little.

After failing to understand any of the medical jargon he put the clipboard back watching his Mom rest.

"Hey Mom"

He waited hopefully, praying that today might be the day she spoke back.

But there was no response.

Ethan swallowed the lump forming in his throat. He knew she could pull through no matter how long it would take, she was strong, she'd survive this. But he missed her terribly, these last few years had been hard.

His parents had moved to Gotham freshly wed each filled with the dream of helping to change a city drowning in its own shadow. Naturally they joined the GCPD, working long hours while juggling a toddler, they gave it their all both at work and at home, Ethan always remembered seeing them smile, they were good people, too good for Gotham.

 _But nothing lasts forever._ Ethan thought miserably.

A few years ago Black Mask had tried to over-throw the Falcone family turning entire neighborhoods into war zones as he men warred with the Mafia. The GCPD scrambled to get a hold of the situation trying to protect Gotham's citizens.

His parents were caught in the crossfire.

Ethan blinked at the moisture welling up in his eyes gently grasping her hand, adding great care to watch his super-strength.

His family had never been thinkers they were people of action, living in the here and now, they had never planned for the 'what ifs' and so they hadn't saved money to fall back on in hard times.

Ethan quickly learnt that Gotham's people were unsympathetic when payments were due.

They were going to lose the apartment, _their home_ , he couldn't just sit by and do nothing, there was only so many times he could deal with their landlord angrily banging on their door. So Ethan did what he could. He left school before finishing hounding job after job, walking the streets for hours just looking for something, _anything,_ to get by only to be turned away.

And in the end he had to brake the one rule that his parents had made him live by.

 _Never use your powers for personal gain._

In hindsight Ethan could see no other choice. Nobody would employ a kid, too much of a _liability_ they said, _get lost_ they said. So he took matters into his own hands.

Dad was gone and Mom was in a coma what else could he do...?

He started to commit small harmless crimes in the night, stealing mostly, taking just enough to keep the wolves at bay never anything more. Shops; cash registers, bank machines anything that was easy for him to get his hands onto and rip open.

Ethan justified it to himself by following a set of rules. He only took what he needed; he never hurt anyone, he kept out of gangs and their constant in-fighting knowing that he could do all kinds of damage if he got involved with them and he made sure to maintain a low-profile both from the GCPD and Gotham's underbelly.

His parents had paid for ultimate price because of gang violence. There was no way Ethan could do that to someone else, he didn't have the stomach for it no matter how well the criminal world might pay.

Ethan's parents always said that the fight wasn't worth it if you sacrificed your soul to win.

The teen didn't think he had lost his soul yet. He wasn't stupid he knew sooner or later someone would catch onto a meta-human thief, he'd even had a few close calls with the GCPD. He spaced out his crimes, going further and further out to avoid hitting the same places too often, he kept his thievery quick and clean leaving no traces behind him. He needed to be careful because there was one person in Gotham he did not want to draw attention from.

 _The Batman._

People were scared to talk about Two-face and his thugs, but they were down right petrified of even mentioning _him,_ the gangs feared him, the GCPD avoided talking about him publicly declaring him a vigilante terrorist, but secretly praised him for making their lives easier.

Some of the things Ethan had heard were scary.

Entire criminal organisations crippled over night, the most fearsome villains alive brought down with one strike, there was no mistaking it, Ethan wouldn't stand a chance versus the Batman if he were discovered.

But despite this risk he knew he had to keep going.

Ethan had to keep his Mom's treatment progressing. He had to save her.

He just needed to get enough money, enough to get her back on her feet and for everything to go back to the way it was. Then when she was fit and healthy again they could work something better out, they could be a family again.

Ethan squeezed his Mother's hand just a bit tighter.

"I love you...I'll get you out of here, I promise"

And with that final declaration Ethan left feeling the weight settle on his shoulders.


	2. Chapter 2

.

.

Robin studied his opponent like he were a rabid animal, Superboy was strong he could give him that but the clone was so...simple. His attacks were messy, uncoordinated and easy to counter, if it wasn't for his naturally inherited durability Robin seriously doubted he would have made it this far alive.

The clone's fist flew past Robin's head in yet another awkward assault the Boy Wonder nimbly danced out of his reach having years of combat experience on his opponent. But he couldn't shake the feeling that it should not be _this_ easy to best the clone even with his training and experience.

Dick was well aware that Cadmus had ingrained Superboy with endless pools of knowledge, including self defense, but without the discipline and experience to use that knowledge he just ran off impulse and Superboy's one and only impulse was to 'punch it'.

Dick found it amusing but understandable it would take time for Superboy to figure things out. He just hoped the clone would figure them out sooner rather than later.

Robin dodged another mindless swing from his opponent and took advantage of his exposed flank pouncing on his back wrapping his legs around the clones arms tensing his muscles, the result was Superboy being flung over head crashing into the ground where the floor lightened up pleasantly announcing a 'fail'.

Robin shook his head.

 _It's like he isn't even thinking about the fight._

A millisecond after the clone touched down he was charging again, Robin changed tactics letting a cocky grin spread over his face hoping that maybe if he taunted Superboy enough it might make him change his fighting patterns.

Two punches later and the Boy Wonder was still dancing circles around him. Dick grit his teeth in frustration, this type of training was _pointless_ for him but he was hoping that it might prove useful to his comrades.

Aside from Aqualad none of them could match him in hand to hand combat, Artemis was decent but a lot better with her bow, Wally was much too arrogant thinking he was too fast to be hit and M'gann made the same mistake as the speedster by relying on her powers too much.

Another charge from the clone. Expertly Robin dodged, blocked and tripped Superboy up in a graceful flurry of movement.

Most of the team were gathered around the training ring, M'gann and Artemis sat side by side on the bench, M'gann watching with forced interest while Artemis was just enjoying watching Superboy. The Martian would sometimes glance a little longer than necessary at the clone but wasn't as obvious as the archer was being.

 _What's with all the girls pinning over him? I get it his cute but jeez._

Wally hadn't stuck around for long mumbling something about being hungry and chicken, now that Dick thought about it his friend had probably ran into town to grab some fast food.

 _Ha! 'Fast' food._

Dick chuckled at his own pun realizing a second too late that Superboy mistook it for being laughed at.

Robin _almost_ got tagged by the clones fist as it flew past his head by a centre-meter. Almost.

Red Tornado over saw training exercises near the entrance to the cave, Robin couldn't tell if the android had an active interest in their training, metal didn't tend to form expressions, but even if he was the android never offered any feedback or corrections he only announced when to begin and end.

That drove Dick insane more than anything. The team _needed_ expert guidance how else would they learn?

He couldn't wait for Black Canary to start her position here, even though he and Aqualad were skilled combatants they weren't teachers. The lessons they had learnt were mostly from their own mistakes and they had no idea how to pass those lessons along to their team.

Speaking of the Atlantean, Aqualad stood beside their robotic den mother shoulders high trying not to wince at every failed swing the clone threw.

" **Time** "

Red Tornado's robotic voice echoed across the cave causing the training ring to power down and the lights to dim, the android soon swept away towards the zetabeam without a single farewell.

Superboy apparently wasn't listening and attempted another lunge which was sidestepped breathlessly by Robin.

"Come on Sups, you have powers! This should be easy!" Dick cheekily grinned at the clone which caused him to growl and storm off towards the showers fists clenched tightly at his sides.

 _Note to self, taunting doesn't work._

M'gann watched him leave with concerned eyes but did not follow him instead she flew towards the lounge cheerfully declaring that she would cook something up to eat. The Boy Wonder silently prayed that whatever she was planning to cook wouldn't end up being cremated into a solid blackened mess.

A sudden whoosh of air signalled the arrival of Wally West who held a near empty bucket of chicken under his arm and half a chicken leg in the other.

"Aw man, did I miss training _again..._ "

Dick rolled his eyes at his friend.

"You missed it on purpose like always doofus, if you stuck around you might learn something"

Wally looked at him lazily swinging his chicken back and forth.

"Watching you and Aqualad knock everyone on their asses isn't learning, it's torture, sorry dude but nothing to learn from that!"

Wally tore back into the chicken leg while Artemis watched with disgust, Aqualad moved closer to his friends after hearing Wally's admission, their leader looked sheepish as he spoke.

"I am sorry, I wish I had more to offer the team during training sessions, but my own talents are only teachable to Atlanteans and I myself still have not grasped all of the surface fighting styles"

Dick nudged Kaldur's arm with a smile.

"You are doing everything you can, besides, Batman mentioned Canary would be over seeing our training sessions soon"

Wally choked on his chicken forgetting about the morsels of meat in his mouth.

"Wait?! The beautiful blonde in tights? _Sweet!_ "

Artemis punched his shoulder.

"You're a pig, Kid-Mouth"

"Oh, there's no need to be _jealous_ "

"What?! I'm not!"

"Sure sure"

Artemis made a face hitting the speedster again and the two began their daily squabbling match. Dick could practically smell the hormones rising and decided to make an exit.

"I'll be heading home then"

Artemis and Wally waved him off but Kaldur choose to follow walking beside his friend towards the zetabeam. The Atlantean was silent until he was sure they were out of ear shot of everyone else.

"I will be glad when Canary begins her tutoring, I fear we are all in need of great improvement based on our past performance"

Dick hummed in agreement but said nothing else about it. He would never admit it but he too struggled working within a team. The dynamic-duo gig was so deeply ingrained into his bones that he forgot that his team weren't like Batman they didn't understand the wordless communication he and Bruce had built up over years of crime-fighting.

"What do you think about the team?"

It wasn't uncommon for Kaldur to ask him for advice despite him being younger he had a wide range of experience under his belt and he was a lot more perceptive than others his age.

"We're new to this, working as a _team_ that's a huge change from what we're used to, I'm not saying we couldn't be better but this is a big learning curve for us, maybe all we need is time to adapt to one another, get to know how each of us works"

The two of the halted by the zetabeam Robin punched in Gotham's coordinates and waited for the machine to power up.

"Perhaps, truthfully I am more concerned about Superboy, the others show that they can adapt and learn form their mistakes but Superboy...does not, his sparring today proved so"

 _Tell me about it._

They still had no clue if there were any long term side-effects from being born a Cadmus clone or if there were any at all and the real kicker was that the one being on the entire planet who could help Superboy learn about himself and his powers pretended he didn't exist.

"I don't think Superboy is stupid, just uncoordinated he doesn't know how to control his powers and big blue's lack of presence is getting to him, it makes him...emotional"

Kaldur nodded stiffly. Dick reminded himself to try get the team a day off sometime this week so they could all unwind, the constant tension wasn't doing any of them any good.

"Agreed, if he doesn't gain control over his feelings soon he could quickly become a danger and not an asset to the team, but I have faith that he will prevail over his demons"

Kaldur was always so serious, they really needed some downtime to be kids again and soon. Whilst he shared Kaldur's concerns he knew they all had the potential to better themselves.

"I'll catch you later Aqualad"

"Very well, goodbye Robin"

Kaldur waved a brief goodbye retracing his steps back into the cave while Robin hopped into the zetabeam feeling the depths of Mount Justice fade away into the familiar alleyways of Gotham.

 _Home._

Briefly he considered running a quick patrol but decided against it, Bruce had mentioned he didn't want him out on the streets on his own not until they eliminated the Two-Face threat.

He reached rummaged around in the secluded the alley for the area where he had stashed his motorcycle, quickly starting it up and speeding down the streets.

With the formation of the team Robin had found himself with less and less time to patrol with Bruce, he knew that if his father truly needed him he would call. But it still bothered the Boy Wonder especially now that he had began to realize that patrolling was the only time he and Bruce really spent together.

It wasn't exactly his fault though, Robin's schedule the last few weeks had been crazy; Cadmus, Genomorphs, Superboy, Blockbuster, Mister Twister, teaming up with M'gann and Artemis combined with juggling a social life as Richard Grayson and fitting in routine patrols in Gotham he was beginning to think he might need a vacation.

Not that Bruce would let him.

M'gann and Artemis had proven to be huge assets to the team, a telepathic mind link on demand was such a huge advantage for covert ops and having an archer really improved their fire-power even if said archer wasn't Speedy, it was also comforting for Dick to have another non-powered hero on the team.

Wally seemed to be taking to the new additions well, Dick knew his friend saw how useful they were even if he was too busy shamelessly flirting with them half the time. Aqualad was all business as usual he saw their unique skills sets and that was pretty much it, Dick believed it would take him time to get to know them and even longer to trust them. Aqualad had always been a bit prickly with newcomers.

Superboy was another matter, if he had any sort of opinion about his team members it was reduced to yes and no answers or the occasional growl and ever since the whole 'accidental mind reading' thing he had been very hostile around M'gann.

To be honest the clone's aggressive behavior got on Dick's nerves he _understood_ it but he didn't _like_ it. On more than one occasion he had to reminded himself that it was just a learning process and all it would take was time.

Despite the rocky start Robin liked the team, it felt like the League were finally taking them seriously, that they were making a difference out there.

Robin drove further away from the main city into the outskirts where Wayne Manor was located, after double checking that he wasn't followed he took a sharp right down towards the caves beneath the manor where he drove straight through a waterfall into a hidden runway which was only noticeable to those who knew where to look.

The Bat Cave was a welcome sight out of all of Wayne Manor Dick found the cave to be his favorite place, he had spent most of his time in here over the years much to Alfred's dismay.

The beloved butler never liked it when he or Bruce spent too much time down here he'd complain _'Sirs you must get out of this dark cave once and awhile'_ _._ Then they'd go on patrol.

Dick suspected that wasn't what Alfred had had in mind at the time.

Bruce sat by the computer fully armored aside from the cowl and cape, he appeared to be going through some video footage, Dick decided to let him focus and headed to the elevator, he could speak with Bruce later.

"Robin"

 _Or right now..._

"Hey, thought I'd let you focus, what's up?"

Bruce gently tilted his head towards the screen, he jogged over excitedly.

"Is it Two-Face?"

"No"

Robin huffed. He wished it was Two-Face so they could lock him up already but he was exhausted right now and chasing down Dent was not appealing especially after their last encounter. Dent and his goons had started shooting up a rivals bar two nights ago, they arrived shortly after only to miss the madman by a second, which led into a thirty minute car chase through Gotham only to realize that Dent had slipped away in another vehicle back at the bar.

Robin didn't get home till four that night. He really hated wild goose chases.

"I've been investigating Dent's men making sure he isn't recruiting anyone who could be trouble, recently there's been rumors that Dent is looking for a meta-human in Old Gotham but details are sketchy"

Dick listened carefully to Bruce's words, if Harvey was trying to recruit new blood then they were in trouble.

"Sounds like his planning for something, bulking up his numbers"

Bruce nodded grimly.

"Until we take Dent down we need to make sure he doesn't get his hands on anyone dangerous, Arkham's on high alert for break ins and the GCPD have constant surveillance over his imprisoned allies, in the mean time we need to find this meta-human before Dent does"

Robin guessed it made sense Harvey was dangerous enough on his own, if he got his hands on someone powerful it could tip the balance of power in his favour. The only thing currently preventing Dent from taking action was the ever present threat of Batman lingering over his head but that would only keep him in hiding for so long.

"Okay... any leads?"

Bruce brought up several windows on screen each flashing various information; police reports, witness accounts, news reports every scrap of information of unusual activity in Old Gotham.

"The GCPD haven't managed to track anything solid, we have no name or address only odd seismic activity readings and vague witness reports but from what I've gathered we're looking for a young male around 5'5" possibly with the capabilities to influence minerals within organic materials"

"But we're not certain?"

Bruce didn't say anything which was all the confirmation Dick needed.

"So...we have nothing to go on"

"Not at the moment however..."

A few clicks and the screen flickered into a map of Old Gotham.

"Remember when I said there was odd seismic activity"

Dick nodded and Bruce pressed another key on the keyboard, red dots appeared around the south of the island all tightly packed together into a single area.

"Where ever these readings are found businesses suffered from break ins; locks broken, vaults torn open, security cameras crushed"

Dick got what he was saying.

"You think its this meta-human?"

"If he has some form of control over minerals it's not too far fetched to imagine that this is his doing"

Robin hummed in agreement not liking what he was hearing.

 _Yet another moron abusing their powers for a quick pay check._

"It's our only lead besides we might get lucky, right? If Dent is looking to recruit this guy it could lead us right to him instead"

Bruce nodded hitting a final key causing the screen to fade away as the computer powered down.

"We'll find him and then Dent, but for now time to call it a night, you haven't told me how your day was"

Dick smiled and began gossiping about the team as he and his Father walked towards the elevator leading to the manor.

While they had nothing to act on at the moment Dick knew that they would be watching very closely. Their quarry would slip up eventually.


	3. Chapter 3

_Idiot Idiot Idiot!_

Ethan had made a mistake, a rather stupid mistake, the latest mistake in his endless quest to one up the last fuck up. He had gone and picked a fight with not one but _two_ super-powered meat heads because apparently he wasn't drawing enough attention to himself already.

He blamed his ridiculous sense of justice, he was already breaking the law what did he care if others did as well?

It turns out he did care, he couldn't walk away, couldn't just turn his head in the other direction and let what ever happens happen. He couldn't...

His ribs stung as he ran, courtesy of his new friends, the teenager wasn't sure where he was going all he knew was that it was far away from that town and the defenseless residents living there.

 _Draw them away._ Ethan thought to himself.

He believed he had been so smart, taking a three hour bus ride to reach one of the smaller towns found between Gotham's borders and Bludhaven all for the purpose of crime. There were no masks out here, nobody knew him, no-one would recognize his face. The perfect place to make a quick score.

Stealing in Old Gotham had become too risky he was drawing the wrong kind of attention constantly feeling eyes watching him in the streets, people in his apartment building observed him more closely even the doctors at the hospital gave him this _look_ _._

It was getting too dangerous and he couldn't risk his Mother getting caught up in the middle of it all, someone smart could use her against him and there was no way he could be there to protect her all the time.

So here he was, taking a little pleasure trip admiring the scenery, quietly making a withdrawal-

" **GET BACK 'ERE**!"

And getting to know the locals.

Hearing the angry stomping of his pursuers Ethan picked up the pace, sweat pouring down his forehead.

Tommy and his Sister Tuppence had been complete strangers to Ethan when they crossed paths not long after he got off the bus from Gotham. Ethan didn't know their intentions or have knowledge about their thirst for causing chaos, all he knew was that they were meta-humans _like him_ and they wanted to make some money _like him._ So partnering up seemed like the natural thing to do.

 _Stupid idea._

Ethan heard something big whizzing through the air towards him so he stopped running digging both feet into the ground and tensing his body into crystal. The boulder collided with him but he didn't budge an inch instead the rock made a crackling sound as it shattered apart showering shards all over the ground.

 _Did they just pull a boulder out of their ass or something!?_

Tommy Terror stood in Ethan's path with a gleeful smile painted on his face.

"Smashing y'alls head into the ground is a-goin' ta be so much mawe fun than that there town"

Ethan's tongue snapped out words before his brain could stop it.

"Get lost asshole! And take Tweedledee with you"

Suddenly someone grabbed him from behind bending his right arm back and up into the middle of his shoulder blades causing Ethan to hiss in pain at the unnatural angle.

Tuppence glowered at him over his shoulder.

"Who y'all calling Tweedledee?"

Ethan scowled at her from over his shoulder.

"Sorry... _Y'all_ more of a Tweedle _dum_?"

She snarled tightening her grip but Ethan snapped his head back with his super strength, he smiled as he heard her nose snap against his crystal skull.

Tuppence yelped in shock losing her grip to hold her bloody nose with wide eyes, Ethan quickly grabbed her arm throwing her into the approaching Tommy both of them grunting at the force behind the throw. Ethan then slammed his fist into the ground causing it to shake violently as the rock deep beneath the dirt surged upwards slamming into the twins sending them even further away from Ethan.

On the next heartbeat Ethan was running as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

 _Woods...they're chasing me into some woods...good I can lose them here._

The twins were already back on their feet leaping into the air towards Ethan when he glanced back.

Tommy laughed excitedly as the twins fell from the sky like meteors, his laughter was cut short as Ethan set the earth against them. With a few sharp hand gestures slabs of stone shot out of the ground like bullets knocking the momentum out of the twin's descent causing them to clumsily flail about as the fell to the ground.

Ethan didn't stop to make sure they were okay. They were incredibly durable, _like him_. It didn't matter what Ethan threw at them they just got back up and charged he would have been impressed if his already sour mood wasn't tainted by sheer exhaustion.

This was the first time he had ever used his powers for something other than breaking into places, as thrilling and insightful as it was it was also tiring him out quickly.

The concentration needed to _feel_ the solid stone beneath the earth and pull it upwards was insane, it also didn't help that his crystal skin faded away whenever he lost focus, it was like pulling on a spring the moment you let go it would snap back into it's original shape.

Ethan heard wood cracking, looking back he saw Tuppence throw a massive tree trunk at him on instinct he snapped a gesture raising a wall of dirt to intercept it, but as soon as the stone wall rose up Tommy smashed through it grabbing hold of the projectile his Sister had thrown to launch it directly at Ethan.

Ethan failed to get his footing right in time.

The tree hit him square in the back and with a yell Ethan lost his balance tumbling into a long skid across the ground. Tommy cheered then leapt high into the air barreling down towards the disorientated rock-wielder, regaining his composure Ethan scrambled into a sprint as the ground exploded next to him where Tommy landed.

"Stop running away! Faheet us!"

An obscene string of curses flung out from Ethan's lips, he was unsure if he was aiming them at himself or the twins but the effect was all the same, Tommy screamed with rage while his Sister snarled behind him.

 _What kind of people make those noises?!_

Ethan was certain he could beat one of them on his own just fine, unfortunately the twins didn't care much for a fair fight they just wanted to have some fun and the chance to fight someone who could put up a challenge had them roaring with excitement.

It was ironic for Ethan to think about how simple this whole idea had been in his head ' _rob a bank, get the money and go_ ' stupid of him to believe anything would ever be that easy.

The inexperienced teen moved sluggishly as the drawn-out chase continued, either he would lose the twins or they would chase him until he could run no more which was looking more and more likely with every tired step.

He tried not to show it but he was scared, not for himself but for the one he had left behind in Gotham. Blind panic began clawing it's way up his throat stealing his breath and crushing his lungs so every stride from then on was followed by a haunting question.

 _What if they catch me?_

 _What will she do without me?_

 _How will she survive?!_

The twins didn't seem homicidal to Ethan just cruel, he doubted they would kill him but they won't have any objections to hurting him. That wasn't an option. He needed to be out there making sure the money kept flowing he couldn't afford to be injured.

Bitter thoughts circled Ethan like Vultures. He wished he could have just let the twins do what they wanted, sure people would have been hurt but he wouldn't be in this situation, he could have been back on the bus to Gotham with a bag full of cash by now.

The plan had been for the twins to distract the authorities in the front of the bank while Ethan came in through the back directly into the vault. It was easy enough a couple of gestures and the walls crumbled into sand two minutes later he re-emerged with a bag full of bills. More than enough to pay for Mary's treatment.

And then he heard the screaming.

Ethan found the twins laughing while people crawled away frightfully from their rampage, the entire front of the building had been pummeled into the ground, half of the ceiling had come down and by judging from the screams he had heard he knew there had been people stuck under the debris.

Tommy had thrown a bank worker into the rubble with enough force to break bones, his Sister had cackled with amusement heaving a police car into the neighbouring building.

Ethan saw the way they smiled as their victims cried, he saw the fear in the people's eyes and then he was right back in the hospital watching people just like them suffer in silence. Their fear brining the realization that they were powerless to defend themselves, that they were completely and utterly helpless against those who were stronger than them.

Ethan hadn't noticed he was moving until his fist collided with Tommy's face wiping that shit-eating grin off his lips and as the skirmish between him and the twins escalated not once did he glance back at the bag of money he had dropped on the floor behind him.

 _It was the right thing to do._ Ethan told himself.

He was surprised that the twins had managed to walk free for this long considering that their idea of subtle was to smash anything that got in their way. Sooner or later the League would take notice of them if they hadn't already, Ethan made a mental note to drop an anonymous clue to the authorities later, he'd pay good money to watch these two meat-heads be dragged off to Belle Reve.

"Come on preytty boy, stop running ayn' faheet us!"

Ethan grunted with distaste at how close Tuppence sounded.

He had been hoping that he was putting distance between them but with a glance back he realized with dread that she was almost an arms length from him, the hardened forest floor beneath her feet exploded with every thundering stomp, a look of pure determination on her face as she leaned forward to grip the back of his muddy hoody...

 _Oh shi-!_

The air promptly evacuated his lungs as Tommy tackled him from the side.

They tumbled through mud and leaves eventually stopping with Tommy holding Ethan down on the ground both meaty hands wrapped around his throat.

"Screw y'all Tommy ay done had him!"

"Y'all's too slow!"

"Y'all only done caught him cause he were a-lookin at me!"

Tommy snarled tightening his grip on Ethan's throat lifting him up and slamming his back into a tree.

"What y'all a-lookin at me sistuur faw?!"

If Ethan's head wasn't spinning he would have laughed at Tommy's simple minded justification for strangling him. When he didn't reply Tommy squeezed tighter completely cutting of his air supply, Ethan choked trying to draw some breath.

The world began to blur as Ethan tried to summon the focus to use his powers but it was useless he was too distracted by the bruising pressure around his neck and the uncomfortable presence of Tommy's body pressing into him.

"Ease up Tommy don't wan-ta kill him yet"

Tommy eased up his tight grasp.

Immediately Ethan gasped loudly as delicious oxygen flooded back into his system.

The 'yet' rang loudly in Ethan's ears. Did they plan on killing him after all?!

He honestly believed that the two criminals in front of him weren't the type to murder their victims but as he looked at the two of them more closely he began to fear that he may have misjudged just how far these two would go for some fun.

"What we a-goin' ta do with you?"

"Ay wan-ta snap his neck watch him drop like ayy dead goose"

Ethan's oxygen deprived brain still couldn't stop his tongue from running wild.

"How about you both bend over and go fuck yourselve-"

Tuppence punched him in the gut shoving her brother out the way to wrap her own hands around Ethan's throat.

"Maybe we'll do that there Tommy, real shame though such ayy preytty face y'all done got there sugar, ah whel we'll faand someone else who done won't run away like ayy _bitch_ "

 _They're going to kill me._

Rage pure and hot bubbled in Ethan's gut. How dare they talk about _killing_ him so lightly like it was an easy thing to do, he hated the way they abused their powers to hurt others just because they wanted to. He would not die here, not to these assholes, he wouldn't let them get away with this any longer.

The rage brought his tired body alive skin shimmering solid he grabbed hold of Tuppence's wrists pushing her hands away she fought back with all her strength but she couldn't move her arms out of Ethan's death lock.

Her eyes wide with an emotion Ethan knew she rarely felt...

 _Fear._

"Tommy! Help me!"

Her brother punched Ethan in the face but the crystal flesh was much stronger than the terror twin realized. Ethan felt his bones snap against his cheek, heard him screaming in pain but he did not look away from Tuppence, glaring at her with such hatred for all that her and her brother stood for.

He wanted to hurt them. Make them feel everything they made their victims feel, the thought was so tempting and he knew it would be so _satisfying_ to watch them suffer helplessly.

But that wasn't who Ethan was. He knew it in his heart if he fell for those temptations he would never be able to pull himself back.

 _Doesn't mean I can't put them out of service for awhile._ Ethan thought with a smile.

Ethan head-butted Tuppence hard and she fell unconscious onto the muddy forest floor like a sack of potatoes.

"Tuppence!"

Tommy looked at his fallen sister cradling his broken hand Ethan stood in his line of sight daring him to move.

"Ay'll kill y'all!... **AY'LL KILL Y'ALL**!"

"I just knocked your sister our cold and she had two good hands, what do you think will happen to you if you fight me with _one_?"

Tommy snarled but didn't advance.

"Get your sister and _leave_ "

Tommy's surprised face was hysterical, eyes shooting back and forth between Ethan and his unconscious sister, eventually he cracked moving cautiously around the rock-wielder to reach Tuppence as he passed Ethan grabbed his bicep hard.

"You leave that town alone. I see you here again _y'all_ both get more than a few broken bones"

Tommy growled ripping his arm away spitting at Ethan.

"We'll come faw y'all, we'll...we'll-"

"Just leave!" Ethan hissed the words out from gritted teeth. He was so close to knocking Tommy out and leaving them both to rot in this forest but he controlled his temper.

Tommy took the threat seriously this time picking his sister up with his good arm and slowly trudging his way back through the woods yelling a few empty threats back at Ethan.

Ethan stayed in his crystal form until the twins were out of sight and even then he didn't relax until he was certain they wouldn't burst out of the shrubbery again. When he finally let the tension in his body go it felt like an anchor had been wrapped around his neck dragging him down.

His knees wobbled as he moved the adrenaline in his veins the only thing keeping him up right but he carried on, vaguely remembering which direction the bus station was.

 _Time to go home._


	4. Chapter 4

The bus ride back was uneventful aside from the odd looks and whispered comments Ethan got from other passengers on board. He flipped them all the bird scowling till they turned their heads away.

There wasn't much he could do about them staring he was after all covered head to toe in dried mud and after walking three miles to reach the bus station he was sweating buckets resulting in a unpleasant combination of sweat and dirt.

He was aching, hungry and penniless so the opinions of strangers was hanging very low on his little list of fucks to give at the moment.

Ethan occupied himself for the majority of the trip by scrubbing off the bits of the forest he'd collected from his encounter with the twins. His black hoody was beyond saving the same could be said for his dark jeans but he tried anyway, silently praying that his boots would make it. Ethan didn't know why he had thought wearing his best pair to go rob a bank was a good idea, not exactly like criminals get extra credit for dressing well.

Criminal.

That word hit a nerve, everyone had one, a single word that broke past all their carefully constructed barriers. Ethan could think of a few that hurt him; freak, father-less, _faggot_ but the one that went straight to the heart surprisingly was criminal. He hated being called it even though technically he was one. It hurt to be labelled as such especially because he didn't _want_ to break the law at all.

 _I don't have a choice in this_ _._ Ethan reminded himself.

He found it hard to believe some of the things he found himself doing these days, it felt like he was undoing all of the hard work his parents had put in to stop people like him.

They had always been so proud of their contribution to the police force, proud of what they were doing for their city and their one and only child was slowly unraveling the thread from their tapestry.

The irony of it all was as a child Ethan had been determined to join the League.

A silly dream that only an oblivious child could hold onto but he held on to it, right until the bitter end. His parents had always been so supportive, not just with his dreams but with everything, always pushing him always encouraging, smiling faces cheering him on eyes filled with pride.

They didn't care that he was a meta-human, they didn't care that he sometimes got moody, they didn't care that he was gay. He was their son and they had loved him all the same.

Ethan swallowed the lump in his throat blinking away the moisture in his eyes, blaming it on the air in the bus for being so damn dusty because that's what it was just the dust in the air getting to his eyes...

They crossed over the bridge into Old Gotham just as the sun set over the horizon. Ethan couldn't wait for the journey to be over, he'd quickly grown weary of the enclosed space and the people on board with him.

As soon as the bus pulled up into the bus station Ethan was the first one out breathing in the chilly city air. With winter approaching the streets of Gotham grew colder and colder every night but Ethan didn't mind in fact he loved the cold or more accurately the festivities that the cold would bring.

Ethan stuck his hands under his arm pits to stop the temperature biting at his finger tips walking down the chilly streets head filled with happy memories of this time of year.

His parents had usually taken him to a market square in Somerset that sold the best hot chocolate the kind of hot chocolate that made your insides feel like a purring kitten, if you walked further down the square you would find another stand selling freshly baked spiced biscuits wrapped up in cute little packages.

Ethan remembered how delicious they were. When Mary was out of hospital that was one of the first places Ethan wanted to take her.

His heart felt a little lighter thinking about planning a future with his Mother in it. They could restart their lives, they could _leave_ _Gotham,_ go anywhere, do anything. No more late night robberies or day-long hospital visits, just normal day-to-day routines where Ethan's biggest concerns had been deciding what to wear.

His past self would be horrified with his current wardrobe choices, he often just threw whatever was practical on regardless if it looked good or not.

Ethan decided to take a tram rather than walk the rest of the way home to give his already worn-out feet some rest, they had done enough today. He very briefly considered calling a cab but he knew the drivers charged an arm and a leg around this neighborhood.

As he walked Ethan tried to swallow some of the rawness clawing at the inside his throat, when that didn't work he tried to clear it by coughing but ended up making it worse. He could still feel the twin's fingers pressing against his wind pipe...

The only peace of mind he had was knowing that the twins were out there licking their own injuries right now. Ethan hoped he never ran into them again he would not be held responsible for what would happen to their sorry asses.

 _Terror Twits._

Ethan chuckled to himself and some passers-by gave him a wide birth, he noted how some of them tightened their grip on their wallets eyeing him warily. He wasn't surprised, if he had seen someone walking down the street covered in dirt and giggling to themselves he would have kept distance too.

This was just a mentality most Gothamites picked up, where as the people outside of Gotham's borders carried themselves openly, inside of Gotham's borders people were on alert all the time.

There had been a time when Gotham had been much worse than what it was now, back before Batman had appeared, before Black Mask's power play, back when the name Falcone still carried weight on the streets.

Ethan didn't remember much of that time, he had only been a toddler, but what he did remember was his parent's opting to wear bullet proof vests even while off-duty.

He passed a few lurching drunks who slurred a growl at him, then took a right up onto the tram platform. After about five minutes of waiting the rusty wailing signaled the trams arrival, Ethan hopped on board the empty tram when it stopped looking forward to a hot shower and food.

That was when he felt it.

Eyes. Eyes watching him.

Not just a simple glance but someone was _watching_ him intently. Call it a sixth sense but there was no way Ethan could mistake this feeling, somebody was tailing him with purpose.

The doors of the tram closed as it pulled away.

Ethan calmly moved to take a seat unable to shake the waves of paranoia that washed over him.

Had someone figured him out? Did they know what he had done? What he had tried to do today?

Who is it?

It couldn't be the GCPD he was so careful not to leave any trails, he knew what mistakes to avoid from his parents own investigations it couldn't be them. The only people who knew his face and his powers were the twins and there wasn't a chance in hell those two would follow him into Gotham.

Ethan watched the buildings passing by over head to distract his nerves, their looming shadows filled in the gaps between them with inky darkness.

Then for a split second Ethan swore he could see something moving in the dark, he swallowed rubbing his eyes and with a second glance the shadows were still again.

Maybe it was all in his head...he had had a long day and tiredness does things to a person's mind. No one had discovered him. Especially not _him._

Any chance at enjoying the journey had long since faded the hairs on his neck tingled and goosebumps rose on his arms. Ethan began studying the shadows more closely his stomach doing nervous flips.

He knew eventually someone might discover him but not this soon, he needed more time, he would have to go on the run, a warrant would be put on his head that would mean he wouldn't be able to keep the funding going...

Ethan gripped the edges of his seat tightly feeling the cheap plastic break apart under his fingernails.

"Not now...please not now" Ethan whispered to himself.

The tram came to a halt and Ethan was off before the doors had fully opened, pushing strangers out of the way barreling down the streets hoping that he might be able to slip away from his phantom follower.

Taking a sharp right into the nearest alley using routes learnt from fleeing from the law numerous times, if he was lucky his stalker would assume he was heading north while actually he would take an exit leading east then wrap back around to reach home.

The thought of a longer journey made Ethan want to cry, there was only so much his body could take in a single day but he held firm taking the longer route to make sure whoever was following him wouldn't be able to track him back to his house.

He kept as hidden as possible avoiding well-lit areas and busy streets, he still didn't know who had tailed him or to what lengths they would go to catch up to him and he made no plans to find out.

When he finally stepped foot onto his street the paranoia came back full throttle breathing down his neck like an unwelcome stalker. Ethan must have checked his back a dozen times but could not shake those dreadful 'what ifs'.

He didn't have a back-up plan if they found him. Now that he thought about it he didn't really plan for anything, always preferring to take action instead of thinking. That was beginning to cause him problems if today's events were anything to judge by.

Ethan wasn't stupid by any means, he just wasn't much of a thinker, just like his parents. Although Mary always seemed to be able to rein in some of his Father's more dangerous impulses.

Distracted by thoughts of his parents Ethan didn't see the dark shape pounce out of the shadows. On instinct he tensed, the ground rumbled under his feet prepared to split open and unleash hell at his command.

The furry black cat gazed at him with an uninterested glare snapping it's tail back and forth fearlessly, the feline wore a silky smooth purple collar with the initials 'S.K.' engraved around the collar's golden tag.

Ethan relaxed annoyed at himself for jumping at a _cat_ of all things he shooed the creature away who in response stared on with sharp yellows eyes, _hissed_ , then twirled around back into the shadows.

Carrying on down the street Ethan spied his home breathing a shaking sigh of relief. His family had lived in this apartment building for years, it had been dedicated towards housing struggling families courtesy of Wayne Enterprises, it wasn't pretty living but the rent was cheap, crime was rare and nobody asked questions.

He paused just outside the entrance to check that his follower hadn't _followed_ then jogged up the steps two at a time quickly breezing past his landlord who sat at the reception desk straight into the lift. He pushed the buttons furiously as his landlord tried to wave him down, he didn't want to have to cough up another excuse about this months rent.

The elevator mercifully closed its doors and took him up to floor five, the ride was slow but thankfully empty just the occasional groan from the cables above for company.

When he reached his floor Ethan exited the lift stumbling along the hallway until he reached his apartment, he turned the key in the lock and slipped inside where his back pressed against the wooden door pushing it closed.

And only then did his composure finally gave way to the avalanche of emotion running through him.

His legs gave out and he fell to the floor shaking as he truly began to digest the days events. Everything seemed to dog pile over him as hot tears trickled out the corners of his eyes but the rock wielder stubbornly rubbed them away.

He wanted to scream until his throat bled or hit something repeatedly till his knuckles cracked. He wanted to feel something _anything_ other than the hollow loneliness that was growing inside.

Ethan wondered how long it would take before that emptiness consumed him till his self-loathing finally reached it's apex and he couldn't take it anymore.

He had come home empty handed with nothing to keep Mary's treatment on-going and worse someone might have made him. He didn't know what to do anymore the only reason he left Gotham to begin with was because he had been desperate for money and now with that failed attempt he was in an even more worse situation than before.

He laughed pitifully to himself the sound cutting off halfway to be replaced by dry sobbing.

Ethan was doubting himself, doubting that he could manage this alone, that he could find a way to make it all better. The only thing that the teenager did not doubt was that he would do what ever it took to help his family.

After another round of halfhearted sobbing Ethan pulled himself together getting up slowly to move towards the bathroom shedding his dirty clothing along the way, not caring where the discarded garments fell. When the shower was running Ethan stepped in naked as the day he was born letting the temperature rise until the water was scalding hot, humming in pleasure weakly as the water washed away the dirt, sweat and tears.

He spent a good half an hour washing wincing as he moved over bruised skin already dreading how painful those areas would be in the morning.

Then Ethan reluctantly left the shower hearing the call of his bed. He opted to just pull on a pair of boxers letting his body heat dry up the moisture.

But as he walked into his bedroom he was met with a surprise. Sitting confidently in the middle of his bed was a fuzzy black ball of whiskers and fur.

The coal-colored feline looked familiar and upon noticing the purple engraved collar around its neck he realized it was the same cat from outside.

"How the hell did you get in here?"

The cat hissed taking a swipe at his hands as he tried to grab it.

"Don't mind Snowball, she's been terribly _catty_ all day long" A smooth feminine voice whispered into Ethan's ear quickly followed by a knee into his back that hit one of his sensitive bruises.

Ethan cried out in pain as he turned to glimpse his attacker. But she was already moving. A long leg kicked him in the right side of his face. Ethan groaned stumbling backwards to put distance between them.

The woman in his room was dressed in a full leather jumpsuit, the front of the suit was zipped a quarter of the way down revealing a generous cleavage, pointed black gloves covered her hands with the finger ends resembling claws and her face was concealed by a tight black cowl with big orange goggles over her eyes.

But the defining aspect of her costume was the pointed ears attached to the top of her cowl.

Ethan's first thought was, _assassin_ _stripper_ _,_ which was quickly followed up with a mind-blowing realization.

"You're Catwoman!"

She smiled slyly then replied with a voice of silk.

"In the fur"

"What...What the hell?!"

Catwoman pouted pouncing across the small space. Ethan tried to avoid her but she was so damn fast, faster than anyone had any right to be, she moved with a professional elegance that would make any dancer jealous.

Catwoman jumped onto Ethan's shoulders wrapping her thighs around his neck, his vision flashed white as the first thing he processed was the crushing pain of having someone hold him in a choke hold _again_ _. S_ he forced him to the ground applying more pressure around his windpipe while Ethan clawed at her legs.

He was hesitant using his powers inside his home, worried that he might accidentally bring the whole building down and every time he attempted to harden his skin Catwoman tightened her hold. Ethan's sight started to blur and so he used the last drop of energy he had left to crystallize himself prying the offending legs away.

Catwoman leapt away watching the teenager clad only in boxers shimmer into a giant transparent crystal.

"Well well, that is a very _pretty_ trick"

Ethan's legs wobbled struggling to hold his weight.

"You okay there handsome? You don't look so good"

Ethan fainted...

When he came to he was in his bed, under the blankets, with a warm pressure on his chest. _Snowball the cat l_ aid on top of him purring contently as Catwoman sat at the foot of the bed flicking through a random magazine she had pulled from his desk, her cowl was pulled back showing her short spiky hair.

Ethan pushed Snowball off slowly sitting up. The cat snapped her tail in protest then made her way to Catwoman sliding into her lap like an over-spoiled child, the leather-clad woman ran her fingers across the felines fur watching Ethan with curious green eyes.

"What...why are you here?!"

Catwoman bit her lip mauling over the question.

"I'll be honest, I was here to teach you a lesson"

"What? Why?"

"You stole from me"

"I didn't!" Ethan protested loudly.

"Oh but you did, you see _Old Gotham_ , that's _my_ favorite scratching post, imagine my surprise finding that some amateur had come along ruining all _my_ _f_ un"

Ethan didn't understand he had never done anything to piss off _Catwoman_ _,_ nothing he knew of at least, he actively tried to avoid any involvement with other criminals, especially masks.

The green eyed woman saw his confusion and rolled her eyes.

"You broke into vaults; stole money, ignored the law and made away with other peoples hard earned livelihoods, _I_ wanted to do that"

"So you were the one following me?"

She nodded smiling.

"You almost gave me the slip back at the tram station, I was very nearly impressed"

Ethan still didn't understand why she would attack him and if it wasn't for the exhausted state of his body he would have been throwing her out of the window.

"You followed me to rough me up!?"

She huffed strolling around Ethan's room like she owned the place. Snowball remained stationary watching them both curiously, Catwoman paused by Ethan's desk to pick up one of his family photos.

"I won't lie; you're sloppy, inexperienced, a bit rough around the edges but I think you have a unique gift, a gift you should turn to more...suitable pursuits"

"You attack me! Then want to give me life advice?! Get lost you don't know anything about me or why I do what I do" Ethan snapped angrily.

Catwoman smiled slyly.

"Oh I know more about this kind of life than you think, so many kids jump into crime because they can or maybe because they don't have a choice it doesn't matter, what ever your reasons are it sticks with you for _life_ "

Her voice was sincere but it didn't calm Ethan down.

"I was following you because I wanted to scare you off and now I'm going to give you some advice, get out now while you can, before its too late"

"Screw you, it's not like I wanted to be a criminal in the first place!"

Catwoman turned raising a primped brow.

"This kitty thinks otherwise, considering your actions"

"Its not like that I... I do what I do because I have to"

She frowned showing Ethan the picture she held, it was one of him and his parents outside GCPD both of them dressed in full uniform.

"These look like your parents, GCPD officers? I know that pays well so please do tell me why you _do what you do_ because I'm pretty sure you're some stupid kid trying to get back at Daddy and Mommy"

Hearing someone speak about his parents made him furious the shift in the air from civil to tense was instantaneous ready to ignite at a single spark.

Catwoman didn't believe a word Ethan said her arms crossed and her face set in an expression that could only be described as disgust, she believed him to be a rebelling child looking for something fun to do. Ethan wished it were that simple.

As chatty as the notorious master thief had been Ethan sensed she was ready to knock more sense into him if he said the wrong thing but what she wasn't aware of was that he was also ready to do the same if _she_ said the wrong thing.

"My Mom. She's in hospital the treatment is expensive and we couldn't afford it conventionally"

Her eyes narrowed.

"What about your Father?"

Ethan mentally cursed, feeling a mournful pang hit his chest.

"He...he died some time ago"

There was a moment of silence as she studied Ethan's face for lies, eventually she nodded unfolding her arms.

"Were you planning on paying for this treatment by robbing that bank near Bludhaven?"

Ethan froze, his heart pounded as he wondered how on earth she knew about that.

"Well? Cat got your tongue?"

"How did you know? No-one is supposed to know"

Catwoman burst into laughter rich honey toes rang through the air, when she finished she pretended to wipe a tear of laughter out of her eye.

"Oh that's just precious, so innocent, you've drawn all kinds of attention lately, a fresh meta-human not under anyone's pay check? That's a golden opportunity for those who know how to take it"

Ethan ground his teeth together.

If _Catwoman_ had caught onto him the rest of the criminal world wouldn't be far behind her.

"If you had actually stolen any money I might have made off with it, that would have been a fun lesson for you, although not exactly like I could use those bills for anything"

Ethan gazed at her curiously.

"What do you mean?"

"Kid, those kind of bills are marked if you used them to pay for anything the cops would be on you quicker that you can say ' _cat nap_ '"

 _What?_

Ethan was shocked if that was true then leaving the money behind was probably the best thing he could have done.

He thought... No! That was the problem he didn't think! He just did. And yet again not _thinking_ could have cost him everything.

Catwoman watched him with a calculating look.

"Lets speak hypothetical here...If per say you found a way to pay for this treatment, what would you do then?"

The rock wielder morphed from shock into suspicion.

"I'm more concerned with what to do now rather than my future"

"I said _,_ _hypothetically,_ now answer the question"

Ethan didn't like her tone but he answered the question.

"I would...I thought I was going to go back to school, graduate then get a crappy job flipping burgers or something"

The thief hummed in thought turning away from Ethan shaking her head at her own ridiculous plans, after a moment of contemplation the feline character turned back around with a wide smile on her lips.

"I have an offer for you to consider"

Ethan raised his brow but didn't say anything remembering what the master thief had said a few minutes earlier.

 _'A golden opportunity for those who know how to take it.'_

He didn't like this, not one bit, but he was in over his head and what ever she might have on the table might just be a better paycheck than anything he could come up with alone.

And so Ethan decided to listen to her offer.


	5. Chapter 5

.

.

 _ _-Three weeks later-__

 _ _.__

 _ _.__

 **Robin**

The mechanical monkey made a final ' _hoo_ ' as Robin stabbed a batarang through it's chest, another two swooped down from above tightly clamping onto his shoulder using the mini-jet engines in their limbs to drag the young vigilante dangerously close to the road surface.

Dick quickly ripped out the powers cords of the closest one and then threw the other under his wheels crushing it underneath the bikes weight.

He was rapidly reaching the limit of his patience.

Robin sped down the road keeping a steady pace with the truck his team had been assigned to protect. Artemis was stuck behind them stranded on the road side, her bike was a burning heap of metal thanks to Superboy's carelessness.

Up ahead Superboy smashed one of the robots into the trucks frame causing shrapnel to fly in all directions, Dick barely managed to dodge a large chuck of metal that narrowly missed his head.

 **"** ** **DAMMIT SUPERBOY BE CAREFUL**** **!"** Robin yelled.

The heroes tried to destroy as much of the robot horde as they could but the robotic creatures kept coming back in bigger waves filling the sky with hundreds of mechanical minions.

Their mission had been to protect the android parts inside the vehicle while they made their way to S.T.A.R. labs but it was turning out to be a much more difficult task than any of them had originally anticipated.

His team mate, Superboy, had stopped communicating with him, the only sounds leaving the clone were growls and snarls.

Dick couldn't help but bitterly think that if they had worked together like they were _meant_ to this mission might have been more successful. Instead Superboy was doing the exact same thing he had done in the training ring, mindlessly throwing himself at the enemy, every time he swung at one of the robots he made a new dent in the vehicle.

The clone snarled crushing the robots in his hands fury burning in his eyes.

"Wait for me to catch up Superboy I can help!"

For a second he noticed the Boy Wonder before the battle haze washed over him again snatching two more robots out of the air.

 **"** ** **I DON'T NEED ANY HELP, DON'T WANT ANY**** **!"**

 **"** ** **SUPERBOY LOOK OUT**** **!"**

The robots in the clone's hand shot bolts of green energy directly into his eyes, Superboy screamed stumbling backwards off the truck. As the clone slid down the road he collided with Robin's bike, luckily the Boy Wonder grappled onto the back of the truck pulling himself up onto it before he could go down with his bike.

Dick stood atop the truck watching his wheels __and__ team mate disappear behind him.

"Dammit"

The next wave of robots were already approaching. Robin swung into action throwing handfuls of batarangs at the approaching swarm, he didn't know if he could hold them off on his own but he was determined to try. Every time Dick was certain he had destroyed one another two filled its place hoo'ing menacingly.

The Boy Wonder realized he couldn't stop them.

The robots swarmed over the vehicle, like flies on a corpse, some turned their attention to the trucks tires causing them to burst open with a loud 'pop' as the robotic monkeys ripped them apart. The driver lost control as the vehicle swerved from side to side.

Realizing this battle was lost Robin abandoned the fight climbing down to the front of the truck to pull the middle-aged driver out of his seat and jump off the doomed vehicle.

They landed on the road side and watched as the truck flipped over on its side and eventually exploded. Not a second after the fire began to spread the robots were quickly ripping out the android components from the debris flying off into the sky with them unchallenged.

Robin shook his head angrily, it wasn't like there was much he could do but it still felt bad to lose to __monkeys__ of all things.

"What the hell?! They said it was just a simple drop off!" The driver who turned out to be a pink little thing of a man yelled angrily.

Robin ignored him tapping into his wrist computer hoping his bikes backup single-wheel drive was still working. A snarl drew both their attentions to the sky where they saw a deranged Superboy jump up high into the air stubbornly chasing after the robot horde.

"Why is he jumping! Superman can fly can't he?! Never seen him so crazy before"

"That isn't Superman" Dick stated.

The driver huffed.

"Doesn't matter, all you masks are the same don't care about anyone else, who's going to pay for my truck? Guess who, Me! While you just strut around like it's not your fault"

Robin didn't reply hearing his now one-wheeled bike approach, he urged the driver to stay put and leapt onto his ride as it passed. The pink little driver shouted a few curses at him as he disappeared down the road but Dick paid it no mind, he was too busy planning for the worst.

The biggest danger was the android being rebuilt, he couldn't call Batman for backup, not until he was certain that his team couldn't handle it.

It wouldn't be wise to expose the android to any more powers for it to absorb considering that it still had the powers from the League members it fought this morning. They could get a hold of this situation before it got out of hand. Robin knew they could. All they need to do was regroup and track down the cargo.

Kid Flash appeared in a whoosh of air beside Robin's bike, a quick blur of sound left Wally's mouth it took a moment for Robin to realize that Wally was speaking too quick to be understood.

"Slow down Walls can't understand you"

"I __said,__ we heard you had to deal with the monkey business as well"

Dick cracked a small smile.

"Yeah...robot monkeys definitely suits Ivo's style bet you he even made up an acronym for them"

Wally snorted.

"Where's Sups?"

Robin scowled.

"Man if __you're__ pissed at him it must have been bad"

"He endangered the mission and his team"

"Yeah but only because his still got a stick up his ass about what ever happened in metropolis"

"That's no excuse" Dick grumbled.

"Wait until Artemis gets her hands on him, you're pissed but she's __pissed__ _,_ gonna be one hell of a debriefing when this is over"

"You can say that again"

Dick was thankful for his friend's carefree personality it helped ground him in these kinds of situations. And considering he was ready to do unspeakable things with a batarang he needed calming down.

"So what we gonna do if theandroidisonlineagain?"

"What?"

Wally rolled his eyes realizing he was talking too quick again.

"Android, what we gonna do if it's online"

Dick thought for a moment.

"I don't think we can actually __fight__ it especially if its still got the powers of the League, we'll focus on damage control keep it occupied and find a way to shut it down without getting too close"

"And how do we shut it down?"

"I'm...still working on that"

"Translation; we're totally screwed"

Robin wanted to agree but he was determined to salvage this mission.

After another half an hour on the road his utility belt beeped and he pulled out a device that had been tracking the bug he slipped onto Superboy, a grim look settled on his face.

"I have a signal location and its source I know where they are going, or at least where Superboy's heading"

"Where?" Wally asked.

"Gotham City."

.

.

 **Meanwhile in Gotham City**

.

.

 ** **Ethan****

"Why are we breaking into Gotham Academy?"

Selina Kyle huffed glaring Ethan's way before resuming rearranging the wires of the security door.

"You should have objected __before__ we got here"

"I'm not objecting, I'm just...curious, why here of all places"

She didn't answer right away too focused on not tripping the security systems like Ethan had nearly done on several occasions.

"Gotham Academy is the most prestige private educational facility this side of the state, it is also _very_ well funded"

"So we're here to steal their curriculum?"

The cat burglar laughed at her clueless companion.

"Criminals in Gotham will rip each other apart over the most simplest of treasures; money, drugs, gold they'll go to war over it, I on the other hand prefer to be smart, I get my value from less common prizes"

"That still doesn't tell me why we're here"

Although Ethan couldn't see her eyes from his current angle he could tell she was rolling them.

"A painting...We're going to steal a painting"

"Oh, right"

Ethan was satisfied with that answer not inquiring any further which seemed to annoy Selina even more, the master thief was very excited about getting her hands on this prize.

"The painting itself is of course priceless"

"Cool" Ethan crossed his arms not interested in the specifics so long as it got him the money he needed.

Catwoman huffed again more out of amusement than annoyance, her newbie-sidekick didn't share the same passion she did for modern art but it was a flaw she could over look. She found the wire she was after cutting it in half with her index claw hearing the hum of the security systems disappear. A smug grin spread over her lips as she rose up swinging the door wide open gesturing Ethan inward.

"After you handsome"

Ethan nodded moving inside the school.

Without the fear of cameras picking them up the odd duo were able to stroll down the long corridors of the Academy freely.

Selina happily strutted in her leather jumpsuit still smiling with excitement, she noticed how Ethan stomped beside her his face impassive and still as stone and a wicked idea took her as her excited smile turned sinister.

"ETHAN LOOK OUT!"

Ethan yelped turning solid and raising two firm defensive walls out of the floor to protect him and Selina, when the initial panic faded Ethan noticed how his criminal tutor was cackling to herself.

"Oh you are too easy! The look on your face!"

He glared which made her laugh even more.

"That wasn't funny"

She grinned and carried on down the halls.

"You need to lighten up sparkles, relax, have some fun"

"Nothing about what we're doing here is fun"

"Breaking the law, stealing priceless treasures how is that __not__ fun"

"We could be caught"

"Ugh, do you know what optimism is? I'm starting to believe your spirit animal is a Grey cloud"

He didn't reply just squared his jaw ignoring the jabs.

Over the last few weeks Ethan had worked beside Catwoman on every job she offered him each one getting him a little bit closer to paying off the treatments, he found his new partner strange, Selina wasn't a conventional thief it didn't necessarily matter what they stole, it only needed to have value and sometimes that value didn't have to be how much it was worth just how much it was worth to the right person.

She knew what she was doing, every trick, every gimmick Selina had it down to an art stealing precious family heirlooms and selling them back to their owners for triple the price it made Ethan feel sick but he couldn't help but be impressed, Catwoman was an artist in her trade her passion and pride was put into her every action.

Although he hated what they did Ethan did like Selina despite her career path. She wasn't cruel or bloodthirsty she just wanted to steal shit and make a clean getaway, she never hurt innocents or provoked the wrong people she just got her kicks from the thrill of the hunt.

"Here we are"

The pair stopped outside the headmasters office briefly checking for any hidden alarms before going in, the room was massive and extravagant even the red wallpaper looked expensive. Ethan's nose twitched at such a needless display of wealth.

"Seem over the top for just one man"

"The rich often find the need to demonstrate just how rich they are, which makes them that much easier to target, look around for the vault the painting we want is in it, it's supposed to be 'hidden' according to the rumors"

They inspected the room for the phantom vault Ethan immediately looked behind the large paintings on either side of the wall remembering that's where vaults are always hidden in the movies but unfortunately it wasn't the case in reality.

Next he looked behind the display cabinets bending down to feel for any grooves or edges in the wall adjoining them, as he bent down Ethan winced at how his new costume pinched uncomfortably.

The black leather pants squeezed where man is not meant to be squeezed and the leather jacket he was given had been an immediate failure. Ethan's broad shoulders couldn't fit into the tight sleeves and so it had quickly become a sleeveless jacket, the only part of the outfit Ethan actually liked was the black boots, mostly because they were his own and not something Selina had stolen from a drunk stripper.

Selina smiled noticing Ethan's uncomfortable movements.

"How the outfit working out for you sparkles"

"It's tight"

She laughed.

"Good, you get used to the leather after while"

"Good? How does restricting my movement make it good?"

"Because it looks alluring, it's a distraction technique, useful if you end up having to fight your way out"

"Alluring? I'm a guy I doubt anyone would end up eye-fucking me because I'm dressed in leather"

"You'd be surprised and mind your language, it's a __distraction__ they don't have to be attracted to you they just need to stare long enough to give you an opening"

Ethan guessed it made sense and it was a surprisingly smart use of leather.

"So you dress like this on purpose then?"

"Excuse me?"

Ethan tripped over his tongue as Catwoman threw all kinds of glares his way.

"I didn't mean- not like- shit"

She smiled at him.

"Yes it's on purpose, I've lost count how many times I got away because people are too busy looking down instead of up"

"So it actually works?"

A predatory glimmer shone in her eyes.

"It worked on Batman"

Ethan's head shot up from where he was looking.

"Batman? __The__ Batman?"

Selina confirmed by humming.

She didn't elaborate which usually meant she didn't want to expand on a topic but Ethan was too curious to take the hint.

"What's he like"

"Whom?"

"You know who, Batman"

Ethan swore he heard Selina purr.

"Strong, muscular, mouth watering, a tad bit of a brooder but he makes up for it with his hands"

Ethan's brow drew together in confusion.

"What?"

"Oh don't look at me like that, you know what I mean, and I know you'd like that too"

"What? No I meant-"

"If a handsome strong man came along right now and swept you off your feet you wouldn't blush like a school girl?"

Ethan blushed beetroot red which made Selina giggle, embarrassment was not an emotion the rock-wielder was used to he found it rather irritating. He didn't let her get away with changing the subject though.

"You sound like you know him well"

"I know him well enough to know he gets in the way, what's with all the questions? You're being unusually chatty today"

"It's a bad habit I've picked up from you, just tell me already, everyone hears something different about him but nobody actually __knows__ him"

Selina hummed lazily.

"Alright fine...his everything you've probably heard and worse, but his also a goody-two shoes does everything by the book which by the way is such a turn off"

"Selina..."

"Look all you need to know is to stay away from him, especially considering your recent activities, he might be Gotham's spandex wearing Dark Knight but he will take you down in a heart beat if it goes against his precious code of conduct"

Ethan heard the venom Selina put into her words and he put two and two together. The teenager had enough information to know that Catwoman and Batman may have been even closer than anyone thought.

It didn't matter anyway, Ethan had no intentions of meeting the Bat which sucked because he was actually a secret admirer he thought the work Batman did for Gotham was nothing short of a miracle. It was the Bat not the GCPD that had put an end to the turf war that had killed his father and it was always him who brought down the worst of the worst in Gotham.

"It doesn't matter, I don't plan on running into him anytime soon, besides, don't think he would appreciate the company I keep these days"

Selina gave a small smile.

"Very true, now come over here, this kitty just found the mouse hole"

Ethan moved beside Catwoman watching her inspect the small silver panel that had been hidden behind the large bookcase on the far side of the room.

"Been awhile since I've seen one of these, very high-tech, must have upgraded since the last time I was here"

"You've been here before?"

"Not in this part of the building no, but I am very passionate about the importance of education"

Ethan rolled his eyes at the feline.

"Now if I just"

Selina gently pushed the panel and a large chunk of the wall slide open revealing the illusive man-sized vault they had been hunting, on the vault door there was an alien looking piece of tech that Ethan struggled to guess the use of. Selina however already knew what it was.

"Retinal scanner...usually this would take awhile, but thankfully we have no need for subtly tonight so if you wouldn't mind just-"

Ethan got the gist, crystallizing his hands he pried the metal door clean off it's hinges with one tug.

"Perfect"

"You're welcome"

"Now that's probably triggered the silent alarm so we'll have to be quick from here on out"

Selina stepped into the vault and quickly skimmed the shelves for her prize. A moment later she was waving at Ethan to come closer.

"Here help me with this and _be careful_ this is older than you and me combined"

Ethan put the vault door down against the wall and helped Selina move a heavy picture frame out from the depths of the vault. The picture was an oil painting of several roman figures, in the center stood a man holding three swords in the air, to the left were three men saluting him and to the right sat a woman weeping into her hands.

"The Oath of the Horatii, beautiful isn't it"

"I guess so"

Ethan noticed there was another photo attached to the frame showing two men shaking hands with a teenage boy standing beside them dressed in the Academy uniform.

"Who are those guys?"

"Ah, that one, is the Headmaster of this fine establishment and the other two are _Wayne's_ , Richard Wayne and his delicious adoptive father Bruce Wayne..."

Ethan knew the Wayne's, hell who didn't, they were one of Gotham's biggest public figures. He hadn't known Bruce Wayne had a son though, Richard looked the same age as Ethan maybe a little younger, black hair and a boyishly cute face.

Selina began removing the frame from the picture ready to place the canvas in the protective bag she had brought with her

"Why are the Wayne's attached to the painting?"

"Hm? Oh Mr Wayne gave it to the Academy as a friendly gesture, publicity stunt mostly"

Ethan saw mischief in her eyes.

"Does that have something to do with why we're here?"

Catwoman shrugged dismissively.

"Who knows..."

He could see the secrets swirling in her eyes but despite how much of a gossip she could be Selina wasn't one to kiss and tell, Ethan let it slip he didn't care for Selina's secrets.

The teenager watched the thief work quietly for a while but after a few minutes he began to feel something odd. Tremors vibrating through the Academy's stonework. Selina tilted her head to the side her eyes narrowing.

"Did you hear that?"

"No, but I felt it"

Silence was pierced by muffled shouts coming from down the hallway followed another tremor this one shook the walls of the office.

"Does someone know we're hear?!"

" _ _Nobody__ knows we're here...sounds like fighting"

"Fighting? Who's fighting?"

"I don't know and I don't care, who ever they are they will have triggered every scrap of security we didn't switch off so it's time we disappear"

 _It won't be long before the GCPD shows up..._ Ethan thought.

Selina's movement doubled in speed as she removed the canvass from the frame with quick but gentle touches.

"Sparkles, I need you to go check it out while I get this out of the building"

"You want me to head towards the possible danger?"

"I want you to make sure the possible danger doesn't accidentally run into us and destroy our pay-check, see who it is, if they head in our direction, _distract_ them, if they don't stay unnoticed and make an exit"

"Right...Do I meet up with you or..."

"I'll find you, now go quickly...and don't get caught"

Ethan left the cat burglar to her own devices following the source of the disturbance.

Selina believed it was someone fighting and judging from the tremors Ethan kept feeling he was inclined to agree. As he drew closer to the commotion Ethan saw entire walls had been shattered like a wrecking ball had been let loose indoors.

He crouched as low as he could manage in the ridiculous leather pants turning round the final corner into the school gymnasium bracing himself for anything. But he hadn't been expecting the sight before him.

The first thing he saw was an impossibly tall robotic man standing in the center of the room surrounded by a trio of sidekicks.

Ethan recognized Robin straight away. The Boy Wonder twirled and twisted through the air dodging blasts of energy thrown at him from the machine, Ethan also spotted Kid Flash zipping from corner to corner keeping his adversaries attention long enough to give Robin some breathing room, the third sidekick Ethan didn't recognize but he did notice the Superman shirt he wore.

 **'** ** **Access: Superman**** **'**

The robot batted the super-kid away like he was swatting a fly embedding him deep into the gymnasium stands, if the guy had been hurt it didn't show as he charged right back at the humanoid robot.

 ** **'Access: Black Canary**** **'**

A sharp wail pierced the air.

Ethan had to clasp his hands firmly over his ears to stop the painful sound from hurting his ear drums. Super-kid was saved from the initial blast zone by an orange blur but Robin got caught by the sonic shock-waves. The Boy Wonder hit the wall next to Ethan with a wet thud, the vigilante slumped to the floor both hands cradling his head.

Ethan wanted to help them but he remembered why he was here and _who_ he was here with, he couldn't risk exposure, least of all to the Batman's sidekick. He needed to leave right now, before they noticed.

 **'** ** **Access: Captain Atom**** **'**

The metal man fired a beam of pure energy directly at the downed bird, Robin didn't move or react and Ethan had a dreadful feeling that he wasn't conscious. The beam rocketed towards Robin ripping through the air with deadly force and the rock-wielder was faced with a decision.

Leave and never look back.

Or save someone's life.

.

.


	6. Chapter 6

Brooding was something Batman did when he wasn't scowling or glaring. It had become the signature face of Gotham's Dark Knight, people __expected__ Batman to brood. But nobody expected Robin to return to the mountain with the same murderous expression.

The Boy Wonder was known to be the life of the party; the smile that lit up the room, the witty one-liner but as he stood in front of Batman and Canary for debriefing he remained silent letting Wally and Kaldur fill their mentors in on the mission details as he 'brooded'.

The android had been neutralized and dismantled with it's components now resting safely within the secure S.T.A.R. lab facility, despite the setbacks they had managed to recover the android and complete their mission.

But Robin didn't feel like it was a deserved victory.

"Dude, you okay?" Wally whispered into his ear as Kaldur spoke, Dick saw his father's lenses briefly flicker over towards him.

"Yeah, I'm fine"

"Could have fooled me, you're gonna make Daddy-Bats proud with the Batface you got going on"

Dick relaxed his features not wanting to worry anyone unnecessarily.

"I'm just...thinking too much"

Wally snorted.

"That, I don't doubt"

It was true Robin was thinking too deeply into the days events but it was impossible for him not to with his over active brain hyper-analysing every detail.

Ivo's monstrous creation had nearly __killed__ him, all because of one careless miscalculation, he had thought he could sneak up behind the android and manually upload a virus into its systems. Instead he ended up being caught in the blast zone of one of its many stolen powers. That was the part he could handle part of the job was making mistakes and learning from them, the part that he couldn't handle was that someone had __saved__ him, someone outside of the team, someone he didn't know and it bothered him.

Dick had left this information out of his report, none of his team knew just how close to death he had been.

"The Amazo android is off-line, with its components now being monitored at S.T.A.R. Labs"

Robin's paid attention to his father as he addressed the team.

"Unfortunately, Ivo escaped capture, since he originated the tech he is arguably more dangerous than the android"

"We will make sure that capturing the professor is a League priority, your mission was not to apprehend the professor but to deliver the cargo to the destination, all things considered it was a success"

Both Batman and Canary moved their gazes onto Superboy.

"But despite your success we also understand your mission encountered other complications"

Dick glanced at the other reason for his sombre mood.

The clone seemed to shrink under the scrutiny, like a dog tucking its tail between its legs.

Dick wouldn't have described Superboy's behavior as 'complications' in fact he had a long list of what he would call it, but the Boy Wonder held his tongue he had to remain professional after all.

That didn't stop him from making a mental list of the clone's transgressions however.

 _ _Endangering team members, disobeying orders, causing needless property damage, allowing Ivo's robots to capture the cargo.__

The list went on.

But ultimately Robin had observed Superboy overcoming his primal instincts to work with him and Wally to defeat the Amazo android.

Dick knew his friend was working through some difficult issues and while those issues had influenced his performance he couldn't deny that the clone was trying. For the first time since he had joined the team Superboy seemed to be learning from his mistakes making conscious efforts to correct them.

Robin wouldn't let Superboy go down for this, the team was everything to the clone, without it he would have nothing.

"Complications come with the job" Robin said plainly.

Superboy looked at him stunned. After the way Artemis had viciously tried to throttle him he had expected something much worse from Robin, the clone reminded himself to thank the Boy Wonder later.

"Your ability to handle them had impressed the League"

"The whole League?" The clone asked timidly.

"Given time, yes, Kryptonians as you know, have very hard heads"

Canary cleared her throat.

"I would like to take a moment to congratulate all of you on a job well done, just remember there is no shame in calling for help when you need it, that is after all why the League exists, now go get some rest you've all earned it"

The team went off in their own directions all aside from Superboy who remained behind with Canary.

Robin headed straight for the Zeta beam wanting to put the day behind him and settle down to one of Alfred's home cooked meals, but as he walked his father tapped his shoulder gesturing towards the empty conference room adjacent to the training ring.

Dick acknowledged the silent command following obediently, when the door closed behind them the Dark Knight turned but didn't speak until the pressurized locks clicked into place.

"What happened?"

Dick wondered briefly if he could pull off a lie if he tried really hard he could even make it sound believable.

"Richard?"

But then again a part of him felt like he needed to share his intel.

"Something else happened tonight, something I didn't mention to the others.

Batman crossed his arms.

"Go on"

Dick hesitated trying to think of a good starting point.

 _ _Superboy had just been thrown into the stands near Ivo, the professor sneered down at him like he were a cockroach and Dick's chest filled with rage at how the inventor could just sit there and watch as his creation tried to kill them.__

 _ _Robin took the opportunity of the android's turned back to sneak behind it ready to upload a computer virus into its systems, it wasn't his best idea but he was hoping Ivo had left a hole in the programming that he could exploit.__

 _ _Superboy charged again and Amazo meet the challenge head on.__

 ** _'_** ** _ **Access: Black Canary**_** ** _'_**

 _ _Dick's heart leapt into his mouth as he tried to volt out of the way. But he was too slow and was hit by the sonic shock waves.__

 _ _Robin was thrown backwards through the air hitting the wall near the gymnasium entrance.__

 _ _His vision blacked out on impact and he couldn't hear anything over the painful ringing in his ears.__

 _ _He thought he heard the android access a new super-power but it didn't process until it was too late his vision returning just in time to see 'Captain Atom's' energy blast heading his way and with no time to dodge it Robin braced for the worst.__

 _ _From this range the blast would sear his skin probably crushing his rib cage into his internal organs and if he somehow survived that he would have to fight against massive internal bleeding.__

 _ _Dick grit his teeth preparing for the blow...__

 _ _But it never came.__

 _ _In front of him stood a glimmering silhouette, at first he thought it was Superboy considering the similar build. But then he took in the crystallized limbs sparkling in the dim light, the odd leather costume and the pair of bright green eyes looking into his. Whoever this was the Boy Wonder didn't recognize him.__

 _"_ _ _You okay?"__

 _ _The guy standing over him had Dick's throat feeling dry as he ogled the exposed biceps turning from crystal back into flesh, short messy brown hair decorated his head. The guy filled out the costume nicely which had Dick discovering a new found appreciation for leather.__

 _ _He shook his head getting a grip of himself snapping back into the Robin mindset.__

 _"_ _ _State your business here__ ** _now._** _ _"__

 _ _Dick spoke harshly, maybe a bit too harsh considering he had just been saved by this guy.__

 _ _The stranger recoiled at his tone handsome features hardening.__

 _"_ _ _I have to go"__

 _ _Guilt swelled in his gut for being a hard-ass.__

 _"_ _ _Wait"__

 _ _The stranger stopped watching the on-going battle in the corner of his eye.__

 _ _"You could help us"__

 _ _Those green eyes flickered bright but the glimmer faded as quick as it arrived and he disappeared without another word.__

From that point on Robin had been focused on the fight pushing the encounter to the back of his mind.

Dick wasn't used to being saved he was almost always the _savior_ , he didn't like relying on others to have his back because being in need of help made him feel weak and powerless. Even with the team he rarely let himself get into situations he couldn't get out of by himself.

"You're annoyed"

"I'm not"

"Yes, you are"

Dick sighed in defeat.

"I'm the 'Boy Wonder' I shouldn't be making mistakes that nearly get me killed, I shouldn't be the one being saved"

"You were fighting an opponent beyond any of you, that fight wasn't something you were prepared for and you still made it out alive"

"But-"

"You were not the only one to make mistakes tonight, all that matters is what you learn from those mistakes"

"But I almost got myself killed!"

"Yet here you are"

He huffed childishly.

"There's something else"

Bruce waited patiently for his son to elaborate.

"He came out of __nowhere__ to save me it's too much of a coincidence that he was there at the right moment"

Batman didn't look surprised..

"You already know why he was there, don't you" Dick realized.

Batman nodded tapping his wrist computer to bring up a small holographic display.

"After Amazo was defeated I went to investigate the scene to look for traces of Ivo"

A blueprint of the Academy's layout popped up on the display including all of the security systems installed in the building.

"When Superboy and Amazo first broke into the building the sensors should have alerted the GCPD immediately but all the exterior security systems were off-line"

"Faulty systems?"

"The systems are Wayne tech, _I_ designed them"

Slowly the pieces slotted together in Robin's mind.

"Someone disarmed the security systems before any of you arrived on the scene, what's also interesting was the GCPD were alerted by a silent alarm not the external sensors"

Robin tried to remember where the the silent alarms were. Bruce made sure he knew their locations off by heart in case he ever needed to enter the Academy unnoticed.

"Not many silent alarms installed in the Academy, the only one I can think of is in the head masters office"

Batman pressed a key and pictures of the Head's office appeared displaying the school's vault which had been ripped wide open.

"We found our thief"

Robin's mind reeled, _their thief_ , the meta-human they were looking for...He had been robbing the place while they had been fighting for their lives in the very next room!

Dick felt less guilty for treating the stranger so harshly.

"What did he take?"

"Only one item was missing, the 'Oath of the Horatti', we gave the painting to the Academy as a thank you gift two months ago"

"That's...unusual, all his other robberies were focused around stealing money"

Batman nodded in agreement.

"I don't think he is acting alone, not anymore, even if he is a meta-human I doubt he disarmed the security himself"

Robin had to admit it was a drastic change in taste, most criminals didn't change their patterns unless given the right incentive to do so.

"Someone hired him as muscle? It can't be Two-Face, he wouldn't risk exposing himself so recklessly"

"No, it wasn't Dent, but I do have an idea of who he is working for"

"Who?"

"There is someone who would be interested in stealing something Bruce Wayne gave away, that someone also has the skills to disarm Wayne security and sell stolen pieces on the black market"

Bruce gave his son time to figure it out, it didn't take long as the light bulb in Robin's head went off. He uttered a name he had hoped not to hear for a long time.

"Selina...you've got to be kidding"

Batman deactivated his holo-display.

"She fits the profile, Selina only ever works with others when she can exploit their uses"

"Are we certain it's our meta-human?"

"Your description of him matches the GCPD records perfectly, if Selina has him it means he'll be kept away from Dent's attention, which is what we want, but we still need to capture him and make sure he doesn't become an unknown threat to Gotham"

Robin sensed a 'but' coming.

"But for now we will have to wait until there's more to work with"

Dick grit his teeth with irritation.

"We must be patient, Selina won't stay silent for long, she's incapable of not drawing attention to herself"

Bruce noted the tiredness on his sons face and decided that was enough business for one day.

"We should head home, Alfred will be upset if we miss dinner"

Dick nodded with a yawn.

"You did well today Richard...I'm very proud of you"

Dick smiled and gave his father a lazy hug.

"Thanks Bruce"

His adoptive father smiled moving towards the door.

"And Robin"

"Yeah?"

"Thirteen"

Dick eyed his father curiously.

"What?"

"That's how many times someone else saved my life"

Robin stood there dazed for a moment as Batman disappeared out the door trying to imagine any situation where __Batman__ would need saving.


	7. Chapter 7

.

.

Ethan sat in his apartment living room giving Snowball some fuss, the cat purred contently snuggled up close on his lap as Ethan ran his fingers through her fur.

Selina's feline friend had become a regular visitor to the Tucker household but Ethan didn't mind, in-fact he had grown attached to the company it helped make his home feel less lonely.

In his mind there was nothing worse than coming home to an empty apartment. There were still times when he expected to hear his Dad humming an old show tune while he fixed dinner or see his Mother sitting in the living room watching one of her TV shows.

It was those little things he missed more than anything else.

Snowball swatted her tail against his chest with a 'thump' demanding Ethan pay more attention to her. He smiled massaging the back of the cats head, Snowball stretched her front paws out lazily, pleased that her human companion indulged her demands.

Selina hadn't been happy with Ethan after the Academy incident. She had gone completely silent on him, Ethan had been worried that she might have skipped out on him but after Snowball turned up on his doorstep with a sassy worded note hidden under her collar he realized that Selina was keeping her distance till it all blew over in-case the Bat tracked him down.

It's not like he was trying to give Gotham's famous dynamic duo leads but he had to do something, besides it wasn't like Ethan could lead them to Catwoman anyway. Selina had been very careful of that. He had nothing to give her away; no address, no phone number, no cat-shaped projector to light up the night sky, _nothing._

The only information Ethan did have was her name and that was useless seeming how it wasn't exactly a secret, there was nothing to link him and Selina together.

It had been terrifying the first few days.

Constantly expecting his door to be kicked down at any moment or for the Bat to come smashing through his window but after the days turned into weeks Ethan came to the conclusion that the vigilante didn't know where he was and so that lead him to the present relaxing on the couch with Snowball without the fear of a bat-induced death.

Despite Selina's disapproval Ethan didn't regret what he had done.

He saved someone and not just anyone, he had saved _Robin_ and that made him feel good, really good. For the first time in his life Ethan had used his powers for an entirely selfless purpose.

Robin had been much more intense in person, he was a shoulder shorter than the rock-wielder but had the presence of someone double his height. Which for whatever reason Ethan found _hot_ but he kept that to himself. Selina would have too much fun if she found out that her accomplice thought Batman's sidekick was cute.

When Robin had asked him to stay Ethan had almost agreed, he could have lied and said he was another vigilante, pretended to be a hero so he could fight alongside them, maybe shake hands with the Mayor and have little figurines made of him.

But he couldn't.

Ethan knew who he was and more importantly _what_ he was.

Heroes didn't do the things he did.

Snowball's ears snapped to attention. She pounced off Ethan's lap jumping onto the window sill leading to the fire escape outside meowing.

Ethan knew Snowball only responded like that for one person.

 _She can't just knock on the front door can she._

He moved to the window unlatching it and sliding it open, the cold night air hit his face causing Ethan to shiver.

"Are you coming in? Or is your plan to freeze me to death first?"

Selina appeared in the window frame sliding into the room elegantly geared up in full costume, she did a once over of the apartment then made herself at home on the couch.

Snowball hurried to her side loyally nudging Selina's hand with her nose.

"Don't think you're slick Sparkles, I know Snowball gave me away"

Ethan's mouth twitched ever so slightly.

"She might have helped...nice to see you too"

Selina smiled.

"Did you miss me?"

"No"

"You did! I knew it, couldn't get enough of my charm"

"I was enjoying the peace and quiet actually"

Selina sighed dramatically.

"As much as I would love to keep our witty banter going...we have places to be tonight"

 _Finally._ Ethan thought.

"Let's get going then"

Selina shook her head looking at the joggers and shirt Ethan wore with distaste.

"Oh right...give me a minute"

Ten minutes later and Ethan emerged from his room wearing his leather suit.

"You spend more time in front of the mirror than I do"

"Lucky for your mirror"

" _Meow_ that sarcasm is getting sharper"

Ethan shook his head knowing Selina would never take it seriously.

"So where are we heading?"

Snowball jumped off Selina's lap as she got up curling up on the warm spot left behind.

"Follow me we'll speak on the way, oh and you might want to throw on a coat it's chilly tonight"

Ethan nodded noticing that the skin Selina usually exposed was for once covered with a thick jumper hidden under her suit, he decided if it was cold enough to make Catwoman put something warm on he would need the extra layers. He grabbed his fur-lined winter coat on his way out following his criminal partner out of the window and up the fire escape.

When he reached the roof Selina stretched her limbs in preparation for the journey.

"Fair warning, we're heading to a rough part of town, I need some intel and the man who has it likes the bad kind of company if you get what I mean, any problems with that?"

"If I had any would you listen to them?"

She smiled cheekily.

"Probably not"

And off she went pouncing across the rooftops completely unfazed by the distance between them and the ground.

Ethan wasn't as practiced as Selina but luckily his powers filled in for his lack of balance. The teenager used his super-strength to propel him through the air raising bridges out of the stone work where necessary to stop him from falling.

Selina didn't wait up for him already five paces ahead and by the time they made it deep into the bowels of Lower Gotham she was a good four or five buildings in-front of him.

Ethan knew when they reached the bad part of town he could _taste_ it on his tongue, toxins bleeding out of Ace Chemicals spread far across the neighborhood giving the air an acidic flavor. The streets were arid, empty pathways abandoned the moment the sun had touched down. Everyone avoided this area, even the GCPD, it was home to many foul things.

Selina came to a halt up ahead and Ethan tensed his legs to jump across the last few buildings landing beside her with a thud.

"You're getting better" Selina praised.

"No thanks to you"

She shrugged.

"I'm not teaching you anything, you're teaching yourself"

Ethan had indeed become much more comfortable with his abilities and while Selina wasn't _teaching_ him, learning 'on the fly' was.

There were times when he nearly lost control, emotions he found still made him unsteady, especially anger or fear but he was working on that, so long as he didn't accidentally topple his apartment building in his sleep because of a nightmare there wouldn't be any issues.

"That's the place, my informant is inside"

Ethan looked at the cub below them. It wasn't hard to miss. 'The Tap Room' was displayed in big neon lights illuminating half the street in a red haze, it was a simple enough building most wouldn't think there was a club there to begin with if it wasn't for the sign and two burly bouncers outside the entrance.

"Whose the informant?" Ethan asked.

"Sherman Fine, goes by the 'Broker' to most, we've had dealings in the past"

"The good or bad kind?"

Selina smiled to herself.

"Both...he deals in information selling to the highest bidder, he also has a small mafia under his command, hence why you're here"

"What?"

"You're my backup if things go south" Selina didn't look at Ethan as she spoke.

The teens pulse quickened as it sunk in. He'd been in fights before sure but never with armed men. He was pretty much invulnerable to everything while crystal so he didn't think he had to worry about being _shot_ but the thought of putting that to the test didn't appeal.

"Relax kid, I didn't come for a fight, I'm just looking for information"

Ethan had a feeling that wouldn't matter. Selina was a trouble-maker.

"So we're here to buy information that's it?"

A look of pure horror crossed the cat burglar's face.

"I'm not buying _anything_ "

"So...what? You think he'll just give you the information for free?"

"Of course he will, I'm going to ask very nicely"

 _Fight...There's going to be a fight I know it._

 **.**

 **.**

 **(Half an hour later)**

 **.**

 **.**

"Not a chance kitty cat"

The teenager rolled his eyes at Selina.

"Ask nicely you said" Ethan mumbled under his breath.

Selina nudged him in the ribs.

After being forced to wait in the freezing back alleyway for twenty minutes Sherman had finally agreed to meet with them.

They had been guided through the dark club by armed guards into a small office where the 'Broker' resided, the armed goons remained with them inside the room guns primed and ready to use if need be.

Ethan had gotten a good look at the clubs patrons, most were drunken idiots who paid them no mind too busy eyeing the strippers on display but the others in the club watched them intently daring them to make a move.

It didn't sit right with Ethan being around gangbangers and drug dealers. These were the kind of people his parents had fought to keep off the streets and yet here they were indulging themselves without consequence.

He ignored his burning prejudice reminding himself that he was here to back Selina up nothing more.

Catwoman moved away from him leaning over Sherman's polished wood desk to leer at him seductively.

"Do it for me...As a favor, you have no idea how grateful I'll be, or maybe you do..."

Sherman leaned forward with a dirty smile.

"Yeah?"

"I''d be so, _so_ grateful"

He hummed looking Selina up and down shamelessly. Ethan suddenly found the carpet incredibly interesting.

"As much as I want to take you up on that offer I can't"

"Not even for me?"

"Not even for a pretty thing like you, I'm a business man, handing out freebies is bad for business"

The 'Broker' seemed like a grimy piece of work dressed like a funeral director and had about the same appeal as one but that didn't stop Selina from laying it on thick.

If it were up to him he would have slammed Sherman's head through the floor by now.

"Fine...lets cut out the pleasure and skip right to business then"

Sherman looked disappointed but nodded to the seat in-front of his desk. Selina took it with a smile hooking one leg up over the other.

"How about we make a trade, I'll give you something valuable and in return you'll give me some information, sound good?"

"I know what you're after kitty...that kind of information won't come cheap"

Catwoman inspected her claws appearing disinterested.

"And I know you've been after a certain painting..."

That peeked the Broker's interest his eyebrows shooting up.

Ethan tried to hide his surprise considering all the trouble they had gone through to get that _painting,_ he didn't think it was worth trading off for some intel.

"You have it?"

"Maybe, maybe not, maybe I sold it on already"

Sherman rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"You get it to me, then we'll talk"

Selina tutted.

"I think not, see there's this long line of buyers waiting to place their bids on this piece, why should I wait?"

"You think any of my competitors will dare steal a deal from me?"

"We both know they'd do it in a heartbeat"

The Broker leaned on his elbows studying Selina carefully.

"Very well, how will I know you won't disappear after I give you your intel"

"Sherman, you _know_ I'm good for it, as you said it'd be bad for business on both our parts"

He nodded satisfied with the answer.

"Fine, but I expected it to be delivered first thing in the morning"

"I'll have it to you by mid-night tonight"

"Done, now the item you're after it's-"

The door opened and in rushed another gun-for-hire this one was red-faced and bulbous shoving his way past Ethan to whisper in Sherman's ear.

The Broker kept a perfect poker face gesturing for the man to stand behind him, he leaned back in his chair and with a fictitious smile his eyes wondered over to Ethan for the first time since he entered the room.

"How rude of me...you never introduced yourself Mr...?"

Ethan didn't know how to respond. He couldn't give his real name but if he gave a fake one the Broker would be able to tell the second it left his lips.

" _Ralph_ the man asked you a question"

Selina tilted her head towards Ethan lazily but despite her relaxed posture Ethan could see the danger bubbling in her eyes. Something was wrong.

"It doesn't matter...I was just curious"

Sherman sat up quickly resting both his hands on the desk as his men raised their guns.

"I am afraid my dear pretty kitty, that there had been a change of circumstances, someone wants your boy-toy over there and they are paying big to get him"

Ethan's pulse quickened as he heard the safety on the guns click off. Selina didn't move she remained calm staring Sherman dead in the eye.

"Are you sure you want to do this? It would be very bad for business"

Sherman shrugged.

"If anything my reputation will improve after people know I killed Catwoman"

 _I knew there was going to be a fight._

Instincts kicked in and Ethan was moving at the same time Selina was.

One gun fired from behind Sherman, the bullet missing it's target by inches giving Selina enough time to get close enough to slam her elbow into the gunman's face stunning him as blood exploded out of his broken nose. The two men behind Ethan aimed at Catwoman and he flung himself in-front of their field of vision.

"NO! DON'T SHOOT HIM!"

The henchmen didn't appear to hear Sherman's scream firing their guns in unison. What they didn't expect was their bullets to ricochet off crystal skin with a sharp 'ping'. One ended in the wall and the other bounced back into one of their legs.

The henchman on the left screamed holding the fresh bullet wound.

Ethan ignored the blood oozing out of the man instead tackling his uninjured buddy to the ground, there was a struggle but the teenager was quicker and stronger than the thug. He ripped the gun out of the man's grasp and punched him square in the face. Ethan made sure to hold back some of the super-strength so he didn't turn him into paste, the man underneath him slumped against the floor unconscious.

Ethan sensed the wounded thug behind him move. The rock-weilder turned just in time to see the man raise his fire-arm fingers squeezing the trigger.

Ethan quickly grabbed the barrel of the gun so it pressed against the palm of his hand, the trigger happy fool fired three times in succession but the bullets didn't make it past Ethan's hand.

"What the-" A heeled black boot struck the thug, knocking him to the ground.

"You okay Sparkles?"

Ethan couldn't stop looking at the blood pooling on the ground. The fact that the blood wasn't even _his_ made him want to throw up.

"Kid...?"

Selina touched his shoulder, the physical contact snapped him out of it pulling him away from his confused daze.

Ethan nodded weakly letting his skin return to normal as he got up off the floor. He reassured Selina he was fine then they both turned their focus onto the last conscious man in the room.

Sherman stood behind his chair glaring at his incapacitated men.

"Fucking snowflakes"

Catwoman was on him in an instant. She twisted his arm behind his back using the leverage to slam the Broker's face into his desk.

"Let's talk _business_ shall we?"

"Ow! Wait! We can still make a deal!"

Selina laughed darkly.

"You just tried to _kill me,_ give me one reason not to rearrange your face"

"I'll tell you what you want to know! Free of charge!"

"Not good enough"

Catwoman twisted his arm further to the point where the joint was on the brink of popping out of its socket.

"FUCK! OKAY! Okay!"

"Tell me what I need to know _and_ who's after my friend over there"

"Listen... his got eyes everywhere, he'll _know_ , just-"

Ethan jumped at the scream that followed. There was only so much violence he could take and he was worried that Selina would go to extremes he wasn't prepared for.

"Selina" She snapped her head up him.

"Enough...please"

Catwoman's face softened and she let Sherman go.

The Broker scrambled away into the corner cradling his shoulder.

"Fuck you Cat! God damn it!"

"I'm known to be sympathetic not patient, now talk"

Sherman growled through gritted teeth.

"Dent. Dent has your item _and_ his after your little fuck buddy"

That name didn't ring any bells for Ethan. But he noticed Selina's shoulders tense and her face sharpen as she grabbed the Broker's chin roughly.

"You better not be lying"

"I'm not! He keeps the tech close at all times that's how his managed to stay hidden"

"Why is he after Sparkles over there?"

"I wasn't sure at first but now I know"

The Broker smiled crookedly at Ethan.

"You're that meta-human, the one everyone's after...he wants to use you to kill the Bat"

Ethan's eyes bulged.

"What?! I'd never- Who is Dent?!"

Sherman laughed cruelly.

"Not a smart one is he?"

Ethan squared his jaw glaring at the Broker. The claws holding his chin began digging in ever so slightly.

"Where is Dent hiding."

Sherman gaped shaking his head wildly.

"No! I can't tell you that! He has hundreds of men! He'll kill you, then kill me for telling you where he was hiding!"

"How about that...there really is a silver lining to everything. I won't ask again Sherman, this is your last chance to make it through tonight with all limbs intact"

Ethan thought Sherman might try his luck but instead he gave it up.

"The Old Gotham Courthouse" The Broker whispered.

" _Ugh_ _of course_ "

"You got what you want, now let me go"

Selina smiled releasing the Broker's face, when she next spoke it was with a sassy edge.

"Pleasure doing business with you _pretty_ _,_ oh and one more thing"

Sherman's head popped back from the force of the strike thrown his way. The Broker clutched his face yelling all sorts of angry curses.

"I'm keeping the painting"

Ethan realized he had witnessed at least threebroken noses tonight.

Catwoman strolled past the teenager telling him to follow but the rock-wielder grabbed her arm instead.

"Selina...who is Dent?"

"You really don't know?" She said curiously.

The look on Ethan's face said it all Selina tutted watching Sherman in the corner of her eye.

"Kids these days...I'll tell you, but not here, if we're lucky the rest of the club didn't hear us over the music, we might be able to slip out quietly, if not then...you get the idea"

 _More fighting...more bullets..more blood._

"Right...lets just get out of here"

After a narrow escape from the Tap Room the odd pair travelled back to Ethan's home in complete silence. When they reached the safety of the apartment Ethan collapsed on the couch lengthways as a curious Snowball ran up to Selina rubbing her neck against the thief's ankles. Catwoman smiled picking the feline up.

"You feeling better now kid? Had me worried back there, thought you were going to faint"

Ethan didn't have the energy to keep a brave face going so he told the truth, there wasn't a point in keeping it a secret. Selina had been there, she probably knew what was going through Ethan's head before he did.

"I've never...used my powers like that before"

"You've never fought with them?"

"I have, just not against...normal people"

"You consider Gotham gangsters normal people?"

Ethan huffed.

"You know what I mean, people who _break_ easy"

Selina moved to the couch shoving Ethan's legs out the way to sit.

"Don't think too much into it, you did good, you _may_ have even saved me from a couple of bruises"

"I saved you from two bullets"

"I had it all under control"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive"

After a brief pause in conversation Snowball wriggled in Selina's arms dropping down to her lap to curl up.

"How did it feel? Getting shot for the first time"

Ethan looked at the hand he had grabbed the gun barrel with, it felt fine, and there were no bruises or marks. Now that he thought about it he hadn't felt it at all.

"I didn't feel anything"

"You're kidding"

"I can't feel anything while crystal"

Selina scoffed.

"Bullet proof but no idea what it feels like to be shot, go figure"

Another pause followed before Ethan remembered the question that had been burning on his tongue for the entire trip back.

"Selina, who is Dent?"

The thief had been resting her head against the back of the couch when she heard the question she giggled like it was the silliest thing she had heard all day.

"You _really_ don't know do you?"

"No, but if that asshole was right we're going to be paying him a visit soon, I need to know"

"Just don't freak out"

"Why would I?"

"Dent as in Harvey Dent, although the list of people who remember him by that name grows smaller every year, your generation knows him by his villain name, Two-Face"

Shock took over the teenager.

"Two-Face?! _Two-Face_ is looking for _me?!_ Shit! No! Fuck!"

"I told him not to freak out" Selina whispered to Snowball.

"His looking for _me_ , why?! I don't- he thinks I'm going to kill Batman for him?!"

"'Think' is a strong word, Harv is crazy, doesn't do much thinking these days"

"One of the worst villains out there is looking for _me_ , What if he tracked me down? It'd lead him to-"

Ethan couldn't finish the sentence the thought of Two-Face being anywhere near his Mom was too much to handle.

"Look it's bad but it's not as bad as it could be, if _Batman_ couldn't track you down I doubt Harv is going to, Sherman isn't going to let Harv know he saw you especially since he gave away his hideout location to us, you're going to be fine"

His nerves settled slightly but that frightened panic of being discovered didn't fade away.

"What do we do now? Are we really going to pick a fight with Two-Face?"

Selina hummed in thought.

"We don't really have a choice, he has what I want and his _head-hunting_ you, we need to take him out of the picture for both our sakes"

"Sherman said he has hundreds of men, we can't fight that many, not without people getting hurt"

"Then we need to come up with a Plan B"

Ethan wasn't much of a thinker but something clicked hearing 'Plan B'.

"I have an idea"

The cat burglar looked at her companion sceptically.

"What about a literal Plan B"

She got what he was implying.

"You mean...?"

"Yeah..."

She shook her head dismissively.

"That's a terrible idea..."

"Yeah it is, but it's our best option"

Selina held his gaze not verbally agreeing with him but her eyes saying 'I know'.

Ethan would have to warm her up to the idea but not even Catwoman could argue his point if there was one person capable of taking out Two-Face without a problem it would be _him._

 _._

 _._


	8. Chapter 8

.

.

 **Robin**

Dick stormed through the manor hell bent on finding his mentor. Bruce had not only forbid him from leaving Gotham tonight but he also had taken him off the Bialya mission he'd been prepping for, even though he wasn't in a rush to be sent into the middle of a desert it still made him furious.

 _How could Bruce do this to me?_

Dick rushed into the library finding the section of books on agriculture that nobody ever read and pushed the hidden panel at the back of the bookshelf, the bookcase slid upwards revealing the secret elevator leading into the Bat-cave. Dick scanned his prints and got in, tapping his foot impatiently on the metal flooring.

He was scared that the incident with Amazo had made Bruce doubt if he was ready for the team or worse had it made him become too overprotective.

It just didn't seem fair to Dick, one mistake was all he made, surely that wasn't reason enough to keep him off the team.

When the elevator touched down Dick was out before the doors had fully opened. He marched into the Bat-Cave ready to give Bruce a real piece of his mind, he had went through enough tests, proven his capabilities over and over he didn't deserve to have his wings clipped because of _one_ error.

"Bruce! We need to talk!"

Robin stopped when he saw his mentor realizing that he had judged the situation far too quickly.

Batman stood by the computer fully geared from head to toe but unlike most nights he wasn't donning the light armor they used for routine patrols, instead he was equipped with the heavy-duty gear they used for serious threats, namely Arkham escapees. It had been months since Dick had seen the gear let alone worn it. Something big was going down.

"What's going on?"

"Suit up, we leave in five minutes"

Batman roamed towards the car using his wrist computer to start the engines remotely.

"Hold on! Tell me what's going on"

"We have a lead. I'll explain on the way"

"Can you at least give me an idea?"

"We're leaving in _four_ minutes"

It wasn't a topic for debate. Dick ran over to the armory strapping on his gear in record time. When he was sure he had all his weapons in place he ran over to the Bat-Mobile jumping into the passenger seat. The moment his seat-belt clicked in they shot down the runway hitting the streets within what felt like two heart-beats.

Now it made sense...Bruce had pulled him off the team tonight because he needed backup not because he was doubting Robin's abilities, the relief washed over Dick in waves, it was good to know his mentor wasn't trying to cage him. That moment of relief only lasted for a second.

"Selina knows where Dent is hiding"

"Dent? Really? How did you find out?"

"She contacted us"

Dick must have heard that wrong surely.

"You're joking"

"I don't joke" Batman stated evidently.

"She contacted _us_ "

"She got a message to me through Gordon"

"Oh man, Gordon must have been thrilled"

"He tried to arrest her"

 _That would have been interesting to see..._ Dick thought.

He wasn't one to judge others, especially in a negative light, but Catwoman was trouble. She never did anything unless it profited her and her behavior caused never ending problems that dragged everyone else into her own self-fabricated mess.

"It could be a trap"

"She wouldn't risk going to all this trouble for nothing, if she wanted to set a trap she knows _where we live_ , no, she came into contact with something she couldn't handle alone"

"Two-Face"

"She needs our help to take him down"

Dick looked at his father worriedly.

"I'm not doing this for Selina"

"Bruce-"

"She has information on Dent and we need to get him back into Arkham where he belongs, that is all this is about"

Dick held his tongue. He wanted to get rid of Two-Face as well, after losing the madmen's trail they had been combing through Gotham with no success, it was like he had turned invisible or found a way to remain under the radar.

All this talk of bad guys reminded Robin about one of his previous conversations with Bruce about an unknown factor in all of this.

"Do we know if the meta-human is with her?"

"It's likely, we still don't know what his motivations are be on alert"

Robin was unsure how he felt about seeing his 'savior' again.

The detective in him was genuinely curious, he wanted to answers the 'whys' to unravel the mystery that had been bugging them for months but on the other hand he knew this guy was a criminal and Robin had a strict policy on how to deal with law-breakers.

They needed more to go on, the criminal act alone isn't always enough to justify a guilty verdict, sometimes the motivations behind it are more meaningful than the crime itself.

His thoughts drifted back to his team. He had faith in his friends and their abilities but he was aware that they weren't at their finest right now. Robin didn't like the thought of something going wrong while he wasn't there with them but he didn't like the thought Bruce going being alone in Gotham.

Although he cared about his friends Dick knew where his priorities were on the field.

He was Batman's Robin first and foremost.

"Any ideas on how to take him out? _If_ there's a problem"

Batman barely blinked as he spoke both hands grasping the wheel as he made a sharp right.

"A mild sonic pulse should disrupt his focus long enough to neutralize him"

"And if it doesn't?"

"Improvise"

 _Helpful._

If a sonic pulse failed to work Robin knew Bruce kept inhibitor collars in the Bat-mobile if they could get close enough perhaps they could clip one on him in time.

Although Dick doubted it would come to that.

After their run in with each other Robin had began profiling their thief noting observable behaviors and cross-referencing it with those they had in the system.

It was a long shot but many offenders had paper trails leading right to their front doors. Sadly Robin hadn't found anything useful there were no active warrants or criminal records that matched his physical description the only usable intel he gathered were the witness accounts from GCPD officers.

So far all they knew was that he broke the law but the behavior demonstrated wasn't one of a money-hungry thug, their thief was inexperienced, young and apparently had a conscious.

 _Why else would he have saved me._

Perhaps they could reason with him. But regardless of what happens Batman won't let a powerful meta have free reign in Gotham, especially one with a criminal history.

The Bat-mobile sped down the streets, the night air filtering into the vehicle. An acidic smell hit Robin's nose and he knew they had reached Lower Gotham's borders.

Looming structures over shadowed abandoned workhouses and burning factory chimneys filled the air with tightly compacted chemicals combining together to create a poisonous forest of stone bricks.

This was the part of Gotham they didn't show on daytime TV; too rough, too wild, too real.

"We're close, get ready to jump, we're approaching the site from the east, enter through the upper floors and convene on my position, we need a layout of the situation before we expose ourselves."

"Understood"

Robin removed his seat belt bracing himself.

.

.

 **Ethan**

"This was a stupid idea"

"Agreed"

"We're going to end up in cuffs"

"Kinky"

"Not helping Selina!"

Catwoman smirked at Ethan from atop an old wooden crate that had been left behind in the deserted warehouse.

Selina had reluctantly agreed to his plan after they came to the joint conclusion that there wasn't a better alternative for them to take.

Thankfully the cat burglar also had a way to reach the Dark Knight that didn't involved breaking and entering...mostly.

And after a brief stop at the GCPD to see none other than Commissioner Gordon himself they had made their way to the chosen meeting point.

Whether or not Batman would accept the invitation was another matter. Selina seemed confident that he would show.

The thought of coming face-to-face with one of the greatest heroes alive had him feeling dizzy, not just from his excitement but also from fear.

"How will we know when he gets here?"

Selina pulled back her cowl letting her short hair free of its confines.

"My guess? We won't, he'll scout around the foundations, make sure we didn't set him up"

"He thinks we're trying to ambush him?"

"Don't be surprised, that man would attend a funeral and expect a trap..."

"You said he trusted Gordon's word"

"He does, its _us_ he doesn't trust"

"Right...that makes sense"

Ethan crossed his arms and began pacing.

"You seem nervous"

"You think?" Ethan bit back.

"Nervous _and_ snappy, you're worried about how this will turn out aren't you?"

"Of course I am"

Ethan stopped his pacing. The conversation offering him a better opportunity to vent some of his feelings out.

"I'll remind you, this was _your_ idea"

"I know...I'm an idiot, why did I think asking Batman for a chat was a good plan, I'm a _criminal_ "

Selina rolled her eyes.

"You borrowed some money here and there, who cares"

"I _stole_ money"

"You did what you had to for survival, there's no shame in that"

"He won't care about _why_ I did it" Ethan said quietly.

"Don't get all sad on me now Kid, you'd be a great thief if that hero complex didn't get in the way"

"I don't have a hero complex"

Selina cocked a brow at Ethan.

"You remember that little fiasco outside of Gotham with those twins, you told me you flung yourself at them to protect the people"

"They were hurting them, I had to do something"

She hummed.

"Then you ran into Robin of all people and what was it you did...oh yes! You _flung_ yourself in the fight to protect him"

Ethan wouldn't call it a hero complex, to him it was just doing the right thing.

"I just don't like seeing others getting hurt, there's nothing wrong with that"

"I'm not judging you Sparkles, in fact I _approve_ , you're a good kid and that means something"

Genuine compliments were a very rare phenomenon when it came to Catwoman, hearing her speak without the underlying sassy edge was peculiar to the point where Ethan had no idea how to reply.

Ethan felt better knowing he had Selina's thumbs up even if she was a thief he still respected her, she wasn't good by any means but she wasn't bad either, she just floated between the lines dipping her toes into whatever side of the pond had the warmest water.

"Any ideas what we'll do if he doesn't turn up?" Ethan asked.

"He will"

"What if he doesn't?"

"Then it's onto Plan B"

"This was Plan B"

"No, this was _your_ Plan B" Selina explained.

"So _you_ have a Plan B?"

"I'm getting tired of hearing Plan B... _yes_ I have one"

"So? What is it?"

Selina jumped off her perch stretching her limbs pulling her cowl back up.

"If tonight turns out to be a waste of time then we need to get help elsewhere and my list of contacts aren't exactly as upstanding as the caped crusader"

Ethan could only imagine some of the people Selina had in her contacts list, if they were anything like that Broker he really didn't want to be seeking their aid.

"I'd rather avoid that"

"My thoughts exactly, I owe some of them money"

He shook his head unable to tell if that was a joke or a fact.

"Maybe we shoul-"

Ethan suddenly sensed something...

He felt gentle tremors echoing through the stonework like ripples on water lapping up against his ankles. And from judging that this place had been abandoned for awhile he could only assume that it was who they had been waiting for.

"What is it?" Selina questioned.

"I think his here"

Selina face molded into a mask of sly confidence.

"About time"

.

.

 **Robin**

Selina Kyle. An interesting mix of lies, deceit, overconfidence and obnoxious pride all squeezed into a leather wrapper. She was just as vain as Dick remembered her from the smile to the angle of her hips.

Robin was itching for a reason to arrest her. He wanted to strike another charge onto her long list of convictions, see her put behind bars. It's not like she would stay there for long, she had a talent for prison breaks, but it would keep her away from his father.

"I see you brought your little birdie with you, adorable"

Selina blew a kiss at the Boy Wonder giving him a look that told him she knew exactly what he was thinking. Dick scrunched up his nose in disgust determined to make his opinion very clear.

"Choke on a hairball Kyle"

 _Opinion expressed._

"Friendly as ever I see...You forget Cats are the ones with the claws little bird so I'd mind those manners"

Bruce silently watched the exchange letting the weight of his gaze fall over the two criminals.

Selina was basking in the attention having already done this dance a thousand times. This was all an amusing game of chicken for her.

Her companion on the other hand had turn several shades of white in the space of thirty seconds, his eyes as wide as dinner plates as he stared at the Dark Knight. It was a comical expression but not one of the most amusing reactions Dick had seen. He hadn't fainted yet.

Catwoman's accomplice looked the same as he did that night, cropped black hair, bright green eyes and _leather._ The only difference was the exposed arms were now covered up by a thick black coat and he wasn't...crystal.

"Silent treatment is it? Don't tell me you're still upset about last time"

The meta-human peeled his eyes off Batman to give Selina a questioning glance.

 _His must be in the dark about Selina's past with Bruce._ Dick observed.

"You went through a lot of trouble to get me here Selina, what do you want."

The meta snapped his attention right back to Batman turning even paler at hearing the vigilante's dark voice.

"Want? Me?! Never. I'm just looking to do the right thing"

Dick scoffed but Bruce spoke over the sound.

"Then talk Selina"

She toyed with the thought like a cat with a ball of yarn.

"I know where Harv is hiding"

"Where?"

Again she took her time replying.

"The Old Gotham Court House"

That didn't add up. Robin had been monitoring all activity around places Two-Face was likely to venture near, Dent's obsession with justice always lead him back to the courtroom one way or the other but he hadn't noticed any unusual activity on their monitors.

"That's impossible, our scanners would have picked him up" Dick argued.

"Normally yes, but Harv got his hands on a valuable piece of equipment from Wayne's private tech lab, I won't go into details you already know what I'm on about don't you _Batman"_ Selina received a hard glare from Batman but it didn't bother her.

For once Dick was out of the loop and what was even worse was Selina _wasn't,_ she knew something he didn't and was using that knowledge to her advantage.

"That's what you're after"

"I want Harv out of the way Bats, don't you?"

"You want him out of the way so you can steal the tech for yourself"

"Does it really matter?"

Bruce avoided getting stuck in an endless circle of Selina dodging his question by changing the subject.

"Where did you get this information from?"

"A friend, his a reliable source"

The meta chose that moment to speak up his voice raspy and rough laced with hints of Lower Gotham's local accent.

"I think he made it very clear he wasn't a friend"

Feeling Batman's eyes on him he shrank back the brief chatty moment passing.

"Technicalities Kid. Nothing more. Regardless it's the truth."

Bruce studied Selina making sure this wasn't another one of her games. When he was satisfied that there wasn't another secret agenda hidden beneath her words Bruce straightened up crossing both arms over his chest.

"We'll take care of Dent from here on out but we can't let you walk free, you are both wanted by the GCPD"

Again Selina didn't react just another waltz on the dance floor for her but the meta-human visibly tensed the initial intimidation wearing off as Batman's words sobered him up.

"You can't arrest us!"

"Why not?"

The question was pointed like a dagger drenched in the Dark Knight's menacing tone. To the meta's credit he held his ground before Batman.

"I won't let you."

The dynamic-duo prepared for trouble seeing the determined look in the meta-humans eye.

Robin counted in his head how many sonic batarangs he had tucked in his utility belt then he added up the time it would take to throw them into how much time he would need to neutralize the meta-human before he realized what was going on. Eight seconds was the time he came up with. So long as the meta didn't catch on before hand.

The ground rumbled beneath his feet...

Robin hoped it was his imagination there was no way this rookie was _that_ quick to react, he saw the meta's skin begin morphing solid and he realized this would be a tough fight.

Dick reached back, finger grazing the first batarang...

Selina clipped the brewing confrontation short before it could escalate.

"As fun as this pissing contest is, you need us to take out Harv"

"We don't need _your_ help" Dick snapped spitefully.

She rolled her eyes at him.

" _Batman_ a word, in private"

Selina gestured to the other side of the warehouse and to Dick's shock Bruce _followed_ her giving his sidekick a single command.

"Keep an eye on him"

"What?!"

Catwoman smiled victoriously.

"You heard him, be a good boy and let the adults talk, you can keep Sparkles company"

With a wink aimed at her accomplice Selina moved with Bruce out of earshot.

Robin watched them walk away his blood boiling. Adding insult to injury Selina entwined her arm around Bruce's like they were a nice normal happy couple. Dick's finger twitched subconsciously towards his weapons.

He couldn't believe Bruce was giving her the time of day let alone a _private_ conversation. As far as he was concerned the only thing they needed to do with Selina was turn her over to the GCPD or lock her up in Arkham and throw away the key.

Robin shook his head, that was a bit too far.

Selina deserved many things but a trip to Arkham? No.

"She's not that bad"

Robin whirled his attention onto the meta-human, the guy hadn't moved but he had relaxed a little, creamy skin visible once again.

"How would you know?"

"I know her"

Dick sighed at the innocent statement.

"You really think so? How long have you _known_ her for? A couple of months?"

The meta's jaw squared, his silence confirming Dick's guess.

"If you've only known her for that long then you don't _know_ her"

A momentary silence filled the void, briefly broken by hushed whispers from Selina and Bruce, the meta gazed across at them watching Selina with doubt slowly clouding his eyes.

"Catwoman uses people, it's how she works and right now, she's using you"

"She's helping me"

"Right, helping you steal? Or are you helping _her_ steal?"

Silence. Another accurate guess. Dick decided to put some pressure on him, maybe his reaction would give something away.

"She is using you. As she uses everyone but that doesn't matter does it? You were thieving long before Selina turned up weren't you?"

He narrowed his eyes at Robin, the questions beginning to hit a nerve.

"It's not like that. I didn't have a choice"

"Everyone has a choice"

" **I didn't!** "

His voice boomed into the open space, the ground around him splintered into fine hair-line cracks. Selina and Bruce halted in their conversation for a moment, the meta blushed with embarrassment shifting uncomfortably under the joint glare of Catwoman and Batman.

The meta took a deep breath forcing himself to relax as the hushed whispers from the other side of the room resumed.

 _Emotional response._ _His attached by something personal. Sore subject. Better avoid laying on the heat, his powers seem unstable._

"Easy there, don't want to get off on a bad start do we?"

Dick was met with a glare.

"I get it, you're _Robin_ and I'm a _criminal_. But I didn't have a _choice_ and I don't need to prove that to you. So say what you want about Selina but I trust her, she's helping me more than any of Gotham's proud citizens ever did" The meta firmly crossed him arms now blatantly ignoring the Boy Wonder.

Robin hadn't been trying to piss him off he just wanted to get some answers, he was a detective it was his job to uncover the truth. But as Dick looked at the other teens face he saw the hurt burning beneath the stoic expression.

 _Damn it._

Robin might have been wrong about this meta-human, the profile he had written up described an inexperienced child playing around in a world he didn't understand but upon a closer inspection he found him to be much more complex, maybe even intriguing.

He didn't want to jump to any conclusions yet but his gut was telling him that this guy wasn't as bad as they thought. He seemed like someone who had got sucked up into doing bad things for the right reason and ended up in a messy situation.

This was all speculation though. Robin needed more insight in order to justify his gut feeling and he wasn't going to get any answers if the meta remained pissed at him.

"You have a name?"

Green eyes met his and with a huff he unfolded his arms.

"Not one I can tell you"

"A nickname then...?"

He shook his head, the corner of his mouth breaking formation to reveal a small smile.

"Selina keeps calling me Sparkles..."

"Sparkles?...Seriously? That's what you want me to call you?"

"I didn't get a say in the nickname, and believe me it wouldn't have been my first choice"

Dick held his arms up non-threateningly.

"Hey no judgement, me and Batman aren't exactly great at making up names either"

That small smile got a little wider.

"Batarang?"

Robin nodded relaxing his posture as a physical indication that he meant no harm.

"Yep; Batarang, Bat-mobile, Bat-plane, Bat-claw, Bat-bolas, _Bat-shark repellent"_

The meta chuckled.

"You really have that?"

"Shark repellent? Hell yeah, don't ask me why, not so sure myself"

The smile remained in place and when silence fell again the tension in the air was less suffocating.

Dick felt better for it, he tended to work more effectively when those around him were at ease, he never could make Bruce's methods work. Instead he found his own way of dealing with people. In place of the intimidating cold persona his father used he opted for friendly approachable tactics, it didn't always work out but with people like 'Sparkles' it was just what they needed.

It suddenly clicked in Dick's head then.

 _That's why Bruce left me alone with this guy...son of a..._

"So you made it out of that fight okay?"

"Huh?"

"Last time we met, you were fighting that robot guy"

"Yeah...we won, thanks for the save by the way, saved me a sizzling"

He smiled brightly, a genuine warm expression.

"Anytime"

Dick found himself staring at the glimmer in those greens eyes too long and coughed nervously.

"So...You're a meta-human then, what can you do?"

"I can't tell you.."

"Oh."

"But I could show you?"

It was Dick's turn to smile even if the more tactical part of his mind was planning on taking notes on 'Sparkles' abilities.

Despite what the factual evidence might suggest Dick had a good feeling about him.

.

.

On the other side of the room Selina and Bruce stood side by side watching the two teens from a far.

Ethan raised pillars from the ground grinning as the Boy Wonder expertly hoped from one to the other with practiced grace.

"When did this turn into a play date?...Never mind, don't answer that, I'm just glad his making friends, he can be so...broody"

Bruce looked down at Selina.

"Oh don't give me that look, I had to take him in, he was drawing the wrong kind of attention, I had to stop the others from using him"

"Aren't you using him?"

Selina bit her lip.

"I'll admit his...useful"

"But?"

" _But,_ his a good kid and I don't get kicks out of turning good kids bad"

Bruce knew Selina wasn't cruel enough to drag innocents into their dark world.

"Will he be able to handle tonight?"

"His _bullet proof_ , he'll be fine"

Batman watched Robin show Ethan a couple of moves with his escrimas the meta-teen watched with amazement at how quick the Boy Wonder struck his imaginary foe.

"What are you planning on doing with him Selina"

It wasn't much of a question Bruce already had an idea of the answer.

"I'll do what I promised him, I'll _help_ him"

"In what way?"

"The only way I know how...look, I can't keep an eye on him forever after tonight I'll be letting him go and then he'll be on his own"

It was what Bruce suspected. Selina wouldn't hang around the teenager anymore now that Bruce would be monitoring him, she would wash her hands of the responsibility and walk away.

"I'll be watching him"

"What about your precious code of conduct? You going to let him off the hook so easily?"

Bruce thought about it. He understood kids like Ethan, there were so many of them out there these days, all left to fend for themselves after the turf wars that ravaged Gotham's streets.

It was those kids he wanted to help.

But Bruce didn't see this teen as someone in need of help, he saw him as someone in need of purpose. And the Dark Knight already had a good idea of where to aim that purpose towards.

"It's unlike you to stick your neck out for an unknown Selina"

"You know me, I'm a sucker for a good charity case"

"There are other kids out there in need of help"

She rolled her eyes shifting her hips slightly.

"Don't misunderstand me Bruce, I sympathize with kids like him I really do, but the only reason I got so involved with this one was because he was _dangerous_ and I didn't need a newbie invading my territory"

"So it was all just business for you."

Selina eyed him daringly.

"Are we still talking about the kid?"

Bruce wasn't so sure himself but he didn't say that aloud.

Selina's expression was unreadable partially obscured by her orange goggles, after an eternity the ex-lovers eventually gave up on whatever train of thought they had both been on straightening their postures.

"If that's everything we better let the kids know Mommy and Daddy aren't fighting anymore, then deal with Dent and after that we go our separate ways"

Selina began walking back but was stopped by Bruce grabbing her hand.

He wasn't sure what made him do such a thing, hope maybe, but he had to know once and for all if things between them were truly over. After making sure the two boys weren't watching he leaned in close, much closer than Batman usually did. But he wasn't being Batman right now.

Selina didn't meet his eye purposely avoiding the gaze.

"Selina...the last time we spoke-"

Catwoman interrupted Batman with a gentle voice that sounded more like the woman Bruce loved than the thief Gotham loathed.

"Don't. We've been down this road before Bruce...we know how it ends"

She squeezed his hand and with a sad smile leaned up towards him.

In the shadows of the warehouse completely unnoticed by the two chatting teens Selina placed a light kiss on Bruce's cheek.

"It never ends well"

.

.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **Old Gotham Court House**

.

.

Ethan sat against the windowsill looking through cracks in the glass at the scene below.

The Old Gotham Court House buzzed with activity as armed men filtered in and out of the building loading weapons into the trucks waiting out front. Higher ranking members stood over the labourers barking orders and threatening the slackers with impressively descriptive depictions of where they would stick their guns if they didn't move faster.

This was the first time Ethan had seen gang activity on this scale, sure he knew most of the local gangs by reputation and had he been desperate enough at the time he may have even joined up with them. But this was something much bigger than gang-bangers selling drugs it toed the line of being an organised army armed to the teeth and thriving with enough numbers to easily out gun the GCPD.

It needed to be stopped.

"How did no one notice this?"

Ethan whispered his question between breathes even though it was unlikely they would be over heard from this distance. His cat-inspired partner didn't even curl a whisker at the scene instead Selina tapped her heel against the floor impatiently.

Occasionally she would peak through the glass, huff, then look away to glare at the walls.

"I don't know but if Bats keeps me waiting any longer I'm going to leave claw marks all over his car"

Ethan had to stop his inner geek from bursting out at the mention of Batman's infamous vehicle forcing himself to keep focused on the lethally armed gang they were planning on assaulting.

"We need to stop Two-Face, stop _this_ "

She scoffed then gave Ethan an amused look.

"You don't even know whats going on down there"

Ethan bristled.

"I don't need to know, it's _Two-Face_ , he needs to be taken off the streets"

Selina shook her head.

"Careful there little vigilante, leave Dent to Bats, it's better if he doesn't see your face or even know you were here to begin with"

"I'm not going to cower in a corner"

"I don't expect you to, but be _smart,_ you're not wearing a mask and you don't want this to find it's way back home"

There was an unsaid message in those words that Ethan heard loud and clear, the last thing he needed right now was for any of this to get anymore involved in his personal life than it already was.

He didn't carry on the conversation but nodded in silent understanding the thought of his Mother coming home to find Gotham's worst banging on their door silenced his tongue.

Ethan went back to peeking out the window watching the shadows to see if he could spot their recently made allies.

Batman had ordered them to remain hidden while he and Robin scouted the surroundings, Ethan immediately agreed while Selina scowled and tried to argue but Bats didn't give her time to make her case evaporating into the shadows with his sidekick leaving the criminal duo alone.

Occasionally Ethan thought he would catch a shadow moving in the darkness below only to lose track of the dark silhouettes the moment he blinked, the Gotham vigilantes moved like liquid blending into every shade and shadow along their path it was terrifying to witness.

Eventually Ethan's eyes gave up trying to keep up with the heroes as he moved his gaze onto the people he visibly see making mental notes of the targets he would take out first when their assault began.

The teen had been in his fair share of fights he knew how to defend himself just fine but the rock-wielder held a ball of nervous energy in his stomach, not because he was going to be fighting but because he would be under the scrutiny of the Dynamic Duo.

A small part of him wanted to impress them, it sounded dumb in his head and Selina would blame it on his ' _hero complex_ ' but Ethan didn't care. He wanted to prove himself, prove that he could do some good out there instead of abusing his gifts for his own selfish reasons.

All he needed to do was follow Batman's plan.

Ethan was to draw enemy fire at the front whilst the others worked from the shadows taking the gang members by surprise, when the enemies numbers thinned down Robin and Batman would focus on apprehending Dent leaving Selina and Ethan with clean-up duty.

A sound solid plan. Nothing like the paper mache ideas Selina threw together on the spot.

The cat burglar hadn't been pleased about the role she was given. Ethan knew she was being purposely kept away from Dent and his mysterious illegal tech.

He also knew Selina was plotting something.

There was no way Catwoman would go through all this effort just go home empty handed that wasn't how she _worked_. He didn't know what she was planning but he prepared himself for the inevitable chaotic outcome it would bring.

Selina straightened up suddenly unfolding her arms to rest them alluringly on her hips.

Ethan followed her line of sight to find that the crime-fighting duo had returned from their scouting mission, Batman's looming frame filled up the door way before he moved to give way to Robin's much less daunting silhouette.

The Boy Wonder smiled at him and Ethan couldn't help but return the look feeling a bit foolish for smiling so hard.

He liked the Boy Wonder more than he should considering they were on opposite sides of the fence.

But there was something disarming about him that made Ethan feel like he didn't need to be on guard a warm pleasant feeling that hummed in his gut melting whatever walls he usually kept up.

Batman however was another story.

Ethan couldn't remember a time when someone made him feel so small and irrelevant with just a _look_ , one second of eye contact and those walls shot straight back up making every muscle tense to the point of solidifying.

As if sensing his thoughts the Dark Crusader moved away from the entrance stalking towards them like a panther poised to pounce.

Batman kept his lenses trained on Ethan making the rock-wielder feel like he was being glared at by Medusa herself turning him to stone (ironically). Ethan had the unmistakable impression that the Dark Knight didn't trust him, unlike his sidekick he hadn't spoken a single word to his face he just _stared_ effectively freaking the teen out.

If it was a tactic to get under his skin it was working brilliantly. Robin playing the good cop and Batman the bad, his stress levels soared every moment in the caped crusader's presence only to be quenched with the Boy Wonders friendly nature.

"Two-Face is on site, we need take down his operation quickly"

Batman handed Selina two earpieces from his utility belt she didn't blink at them taking one for herself placing it in her ear and handing the other to Ethan. The small black bud was light in his hand fitting into his ear with a pop followed by a brief static sound and when the Dark Knight next spoke his voice rumbled directly into his ear.

"Whatever Dent has planned he is making his move, we're going to stop him-"

Selina raised her handed interrupting dramatically.

"I have a question! Just to recap Sparkles here gets all the fun up-front, Boy-Birdie and you get to dance with Dent, and I'm being left with _handcuffing_ the leftovers _"_

"Yes"

She exaggerated a sigh swinging her hips towards Batman with an evil glimmer in her eyes.

"Pity...But I guess out of the two of us I am the most talented with a pair of cuffs..."

Ethan rolled his eyes moving toward the exit not wanting to witness Selina's attempts to flirt with Batman to get her own way.

"I'm going to get in position"

The Boy Wonder watched Ethan move and with a nod from his mentor followed him out the room.

"Wait up! I'll join you"

Ethan smiled as the Boy Wonder fell in step beside him hoping he didn't appear too over-eager to have the young vigilante with him.

The two teens began their ascent of the stairs towards the roof where they would await Batman's orders, Robin hung back behind Ethan a little to both check the small screen built into his wrist guard and to make sure he didn't have his back to the other teen.

"What are you doing?"

A couple of taps on the screen and the Boy Wonder resumed walking at a normal pace.

"I planted a couple of bugs on Dent's men to track their movements, just checking they are where I left them"

Ethan's eyebrows shot up.

"That's...pretty cool"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, stealth isn't one of my strengths...kinda wish it was, being able to sneak up on people like that? Sounds awesome"

Robin grinned feeling his ego expand.

"It's nothing compared to B, you know this one time he slipped Green Lantern's ring right off his finger while talking to him"

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean I wasn't there to see it but whenever the story comes up GL gets all kinds of defensive"

Silence fell over them as Ethan pictured the story in his head but by the time they reached the entrance to the roof the mood had shifted from playful to serious. Robin whispered for Ethan to keep low as they opened the door and moved along the edge of the building to survey the gang below.

Out of the corner of his eye Robin caught the meta-teen gnawing on his bottom lip.

"Nervous?"

"No."

Ethan blushed knowing he had replied too quick and then mentally cursed himself for blushing he had never been a good liar.

Ethan _was_ nervous but for an entirely different reason than the one the Boy Wonder was thinking of thankfully he didn't call out his bluff instead Robin pointed towards one of the more gritty looking gang members guarding the trucks.

"That one is coordinating most of their efforts, take him down first if you can, it will knock the others off their game"

Ethan nodded slowly.

"Right...thanks"

"Keep a level-head and you'll be fine"

"What about you? You're not bullet proof"

The vigilante grinned.

"Just focus on what you're doing I'll be fine, I'm going to get closer to B, we'll radio when it's go time"

And just like that Ethan watched him disappear over the roof's edge.

The meta-teen let out the breath he had been holding running his fingers through his hair. All he had to do was take out the bad guys, avoid letting Two-Face see him and somehow figure out how he was going to lose Batman and Robin when all of this was over.

 _Easy right?_

The ear piece in Ethan's ear crackled to life and the voice of Gotham's Dark Knight spoke sending shivers down his spine.

" _ **Everyone in position?"**_

Ethan shakily whispered his reply followed by Selina and Robin.

 _We're doing this... We're really doing this._

" _ **Be ready to attack on my signal"**_

Ethan shook off the nerves quickly moving to the middle of the roof in order to get a running start he had never jumped off a building this high but it wasn't going to deter him even as his mind filled with all sorts of embarrassing images of him face-planting the ground.

He whipped his sweaty hands on his pants hoping the motion would calm him down.

"I got this...I got this..."

 _Just keep a level-head..._

" _ **Now"**_

Ethan ignored the uneasy tension in his gut running at full pace using the edge of the roof as a spring board for his super strength to push him high up into the air. Ethan heard the roof behind him crack and out of the corner of his eye he saw half the building cave in on itself from the force of his jump.

The roofs destruction gained the attention of the men below who began shouting at one another as they watched the meta-teen sail through the air.

The wind roared in Ethan's ears as he plummeted downwards, the shouting men's voices were cut short when Ethan hit the ground, violent quakes spread out from the landing zone knocking multiple thugs on their asses.

And Ethan was quick to act not giving them time to process what was happening launching himself at the man Robin had pointed out from the rooftop.

His opponent saw him coming without any hesitation he raised his weapon peppering the air with bullets.

Being shot at was something Ethan thought he grow used to but it seemed to always make him feel the same, angry. It filled him with a cold rage that someone he didn't know would pull the trigger at the sight of him, that a stranger could be so quick to kill another. And with every ping each bullet made bouncing off his body that rage grew till Ethan saw red.

The veteran criminal kept firing eyes growing wider as the teen got closer, he hissed an order at his subordinates and moved to put distance between him and the unknown attacker. But Ethan was prepared, completely unfazed by the addition of more gun fire hitting him he twisted the concrete beneath the man's feet into tendrils of stone that clamped onto his legs.

The veteran yelled frightfully having no way to avoid the punch that followed.

Ethan felt his chest swell with satisfaction seeing his opponent fall to the ground unconscious turning his attention to the retreating subordinates.

The meta-teen slammed his fist into the ground sending seismic shock waves rippling under the surface, the men tripped over their own feet on the vibrating earth unable to keep steady aim on their target even as he ran into their personal space with his fists flying wildly.

Ethan's blood pumped with adrenaline as the fight blurred into a mess of upper-cuts and right hooks each swing hitting its mark. The excitement and thrill that was pulsing in his veins soaked into the ground below causes it to rise and fall like it were breathing.

He was brought out of the battle haze when he heard Batman's dark voice growl into his earpiece.

" _ **Where is Selina?!"**_

" _ **She bolted! I saw her going through one of the air ducts up top!"**_

" _ **Stay with the meta, I'll find her"**_

His mentor's reply was more of a snarl than an actual sentence.

Ethan had just finished with the remaining men his heart still racing when he noticed Robin moving out from the shadows lenses fixed on him.

" _ **Copy that"**_

The Boy Wonder spent a few seconds eyeing up Ethan then moved his gaze over the unconscious fallen with a whistle.

"Not bad, you did better than I thought you would"

Ethan felt his chest swell with an odd feeling he wasn't sure he knew the name of but he kept his face as neutral as possible not wanting to embarrass himself with how good it felt to get a compliment from _Robin._

"-but you should reign in that strength, the force you were using was a bit extreme"

"Huh?"

Robin gestured to some of the men on the ground, Ethan hadn't really paid attention to them once they had fallen too caught up in the flow of the fight. But at a second glance he could see the unnatural angles that some of their limbs lay in and unless those men were somehow triple jointed there was no way those bones weren't broken.

The warm swelling in his chest quickly turned to a lump of ice that dropped to the bottom of his gut with a thud.

"I didn't want to-"

"Hurt them?"

Ethan nodded.

"That's part of what we do, there's no way to go about this peacefully and just to clarify I'm not blaming you here, just keep in mind not everyone has super strength"

Ethan swallowed finding his throat was dry.

"It's easy to forget...I've always been like this, been strong, that's _normal_ to me I just don't know how to..."

"Control it?"

If there was another term for hitting the nail right on the head Ethan couldn't think of it.

Even as a child he had had difficulty keeping his strength in check, he'd never been able to play football with the other kids or take part in Gym class in case he hurt someone. And that was only because of his super strength the list of limitations he had because of the other side of his powers was even longer.

"Yeah... guess I'm still learning"

Robin smiled.

"Me too...I have a friend who struggles with his powers too"

That peaked Ethan's interest, The Twins had been his first encounter with other metas and he didn't exactly get to stop and ask them for advice.

"How does he manage his?"

"Well...he doesn't really..."

"Oh.."

"But hey maybe we could introduce you? Who knows you might teach each other something"

Ethan wasn't sure how to process that, it was almost like a promise...a promise of something after tonight, something after all of this mess, a chance to learn and grow with others like him. A chance to (dare he say) make friends. But he didn't say anything, after all they had no idea what the outcome of tonight would be.

His earpiece crackled to life once again but in place of the Dark Knight's fear inducing voice was the sound of a struggle followed by a crash and a silky feminine laugh.

Ethan immediately pressed the button on his communicator to open his channel.

" _ **Selina?"**_

Robin watched him intently as the struggling stopped but the line stayed open.

" _ **Get your filthy paws off my stuff!"**_

That voice was definitely not Selina or Batman. Who ever it was they sounded dangerous, angry and wild.

" _ **Harv! Fancy meeting you here! Look I know we got off on the wrong foot before but there's no reason to-"**_

Another scuffle followed by what Ethan now realized was Two-Face's voice cursing.

" _ **Get out of my face cat!"**_

" _ **Which one?"**_

Ethan smiled despite the severity of the situation.

" _ **Funny Kitty...**_ _Pretty Kitty_ _ **...Dead Kitty"**_

The gunshot was loud, even through the communicator, but it was the silence that followed that was deafening.

Ethan yelled Selina's name several times with no reply but by then he was already running into the court house with Robin on his heels urging him to slow down.

 _She's fine. She has to be. She wouldn't let herself get hurt by that maniac._

But the silence on the other end of the line spoke for itself.

.

.


	10. Chapter 10

_Two chapters within four days, I'm on a roll, wewt wewt!_

 _This chapter also marks the end of the non-canon story line for now but I'm really interested in hearing if people have enjoyed reading it so far and your thoughts on the story._

 _Constructive criticism is welcome!_

 _._

 _._

 ** **Chapter 10****

 ** **Loyalty****

.

M'gann smiled as she flew towards the Zetabeam her cheeks were flushed and her head giddy with excitement.

If she closed her eyes she could still feel the heat of Superboy's gaze on her skin. It made her tingle with a feeling she hadn't yet learnt the human word for, something she had always thought about but never experienced.

The Bialya mission had been a near disaster. None of them had expected to encounter another telepath, let alone one as powerful as Psimon and with Aqualad now out of commission and their questions left unanswered if felt as if they had nothing to show for their struggles.

 _ _Well...we have that...Sphere thing...__

But they still didn't find out the __why__ _._

The Martian wished Robin had been there with them, the Boy Wonder would have been a huge aid in their brief amnesia induced states but she didn't dwell on it. After all Batman had needed him in Gotham or so they had been lead to believe.

Despite everything M'gann was happy how things had turned out, the experience seemed to have brought Wally and Artemis closer and they all had learnt a great deal about working together under intense pressure and changing circumstances.

But the result that M'gann loved the most was her and Superboy were now growing closer. She didn't know what it meant but there was something there between them now, an energy she couldn't see or touch but she felt it all the same.

With every day she spent on this planet her dreams of living a human life seemed that much closer.

 _I have to be careful..._

She needed to speak to her Uncle, the emotions running through her were intoxicating and powerful and even though she wanted to explore them further she feared they may be too overwhelming unless she could control them.

M'gann wouldn't risk losing this connection with Superboy by accidentally showing him what she truly looked like...she was prepared to do whatever it took to keep him with her.

To her surprise there was already a group gathered by the Zetabeam, she could see her Uncle talking quietly with Batman who was coated with dusty bits of rubble, Robin stood next to him in a similar dirtied state.

But it was the fourth member of the group that made M'gann pause.

He was an inch or two taller than Superboy with short black hair dressed in a tight black leather costume. The unknown teen stood with his face down as the three vigilantes stood around him, but what really caught M'gann's attention was the blinking red lights on the collar wrapped around his neck.

 _ _What happened...?__

.

.

 ** _ **A few hours earlier...**_**

 **.**

 **.**

 ** **Robin****

Dent's hideout was much bigger on the inside a maze of twists and turns filled with crates full of illicit goods stacked to the ceiling, the lack of dust and stale air told Robin that Dent had been operating from this site for a __long__ time perhaps even while he was in Arkham.

How they hadn't caught onto this before now was disturbing.

There was no way Dent could have managed a site this big without help from higher powers which meant there was either traitors among the GCPD or someone else was out there pulling strings for the madman.

Dick didn't like either of those ideas.

Up ahead 'Sparkles' ran down the hallways intent on reaching his partner in crime, his heavy thuds splintered the floor boards under foot making enough noise to wake the dead.

 _ _He wasn't kidding about stealth not being a strong point...__

There was more gunfire coming from further in but the walls distorted the noise making it difficult to accurately pinpoint, Sparkles picked up the pace and after taking a wrong turn into a dead end he growled with frustration.

"Screw it!"

He backed up a couple of steps and prepared to charge at the wall but Robin quickly reached out and grabbed him by the arm.

"Woah there! Not a good idea"

Sparkles stilled at the firm grip on his forearm looking at the young vigilante with a determined expression.

"I can't find my way around in here...so I'm going to make my own way"

 _ _This guy has way too much in common with Superboy.__

"As I said, not a good idea, breaking down the inner walls of an old building will weaken the structure and I don't think you want to bring the house down on us do you?"

"Right...no, I just-"

"Want to find her, I know, we will, just take a moment to think things through"

"There's no time! She could be hurt or-"

"She isn't"

"How would you know that?!"

Robin grit his teeth. He didn't like being snapped at.

"Because she lured us in here on purpose"

"She was fighting Dent"

Robin rolled his eyes behind the lenses.

"And in the middle of the fight she randomly decided to turn her communicator on?"

Selina wouldn't bother with communicators if the fight was serious, contacting 'Sparkles' had been a deliberate move.

"She in trouble and she needs help!"

Robin could see that the meta was growing agitated with him.

" _ _Or__ she needs a distraction and what better way than to bring in an unstable meta-human"

Sparkles visibly recoiled at those last words.

Dick swallowed trying to gathering his thoughts together, it wasn't the other teen who the Boy Wonder was angry with it was Selina.

She had him under her thumb and was willing to use him however she saw fit to get what she wanted meanwhile he remained oblivious to this fact because he mistook her manipulation for a friendly gesture believing that Gotham's most infamous thief was actually 'helping' him.

She was going to drop him the second he became a burden.

"Look...I know we have different opinions about her but believe me when I say she is _fine_ , if there's one thing Selina is good at it's looking after herself"

He huffed shoulders relaxing a little.

"I can't argue that...but we still need to make sure she's okay"

Robin bit his tongue.

Selina did not deserve this kind of loyalty, this poor guy actually _trusts_ her and it pained Dick to know she was going to betray that trust.

"Follow my lead, I know the layout of the building and I can track Selina's communicator, don't get yourself worked up and keep a clear head, okay?"

The taller male nodded.

"Alright...stay close"

This time they moved with new found purpose Sparkles let Robin guide him through the mess of hallways taking him round twists and bends that he would have ran right past and soon enough they emerged from the maze into a large open court room.

It was empty aside from a few dusty wooden benches, the windows on either side of the court room were missing letting cool air drift in. Robin tapped his wrist computer checking the communicators location and frowned.

"Says the communicators right here"

"It is"

Dick watched as the meta bent down and picked up a small black device off the ground.

 _ _She knew I was tracking it.__

"What happened?"

Judging from the two bullets holes in the ceiling and the overturned benches Robin assumed that this was where Selina ran into Dent. She must have thrown the communicator on the ground during the fight...but those things are designed to stay in __whatever__ happens they only come out when they are forcibly removed.

"Robin?"

"Sorry...thinking, looks like there was a struggle, communicator is here so that means we are exactly where she wanted us to b-"

Both of the teens snapped their attention to the exit near the end of the courtroom where a shadowed figure entered Robin had a trio of batarangs in his hand in a heart beat but a silky voice stopped him from throwing them.

"Easy there boy-birdie"

Catwoman limped out of the shadows cowl pulled down holding her right side tightly with a grim expression of pain painted on her face.

"Selina!"

"Hey there Spar-"

Her voice was overcame by a pained gasp as she fell her meta-human was at her side in an instant gently supporting her frame.

"What happened? How badly are you hurt? Should we call an-"

Selina held one slender claw up.

"Shhhh, no time, Harv set up a trap for Batman, he _needs_ help"

She tried to get back up but fell back down Robin huffed at the display.

"Nice act, really think I was going to fall for it"

The meta glared daggers at Robin.

"What's wrong with you she's hurt!"

"She's faking it"

The stonework in the walls shook.

"I've had enough of your paranoid prejudice! Seriously what the fuc-"

"Enough!"

Selina gasped letting go of her chest to prop herself up on one hand.

"This is why I hate teenagers, too many moods swings..."

Robin sneered at her.

"Whatever you might think birdie Harv has set a trap for your Daddy-Bats"

"And I'm supposed to take your word for it"

"Call him."

Dick scowled but couldn't ignore the paranoid prickles in the back of his mind.

 _ **"**_ ** _ **R to B come in B"**_**

No reply came.

 _ **"**_ ** _ **B respond"**_**

Nothing.

" _Robin._ Dent is going to kill him."

He clenched his fists, she was pulling on his strings he knew it but he couldn't ignore that facts, sometimes the truth was the easiest way to manipulate someone.

Robin pointed at the other teen.

"Stay here"

He had to grind his teeth together when he saw the glimmer in Catwoman's eye as he ran past them disappearing further into the building.

Dick hoped Bruce was okay unlike that self-centered thief he knew what it meant to be loyal and as the sidekick ran he made a silent promise to himself that he would wipe that smug look of Selina's face one day.

.

.

 **Ethan**

Ethan watched Robin leave silently seething inside.

How could he be so cynical! He may have known Selina longer but he only knew her from his side of the line; he hadn't worked with her, fought with her and like hell did Ethan believe that he _knew_ her.

He let it go for now, it didn't matter anyway especially since this provided them with the perfect opportunity to escape. To hell with these vigilantes Ethan didn't need them, not now not ever.

"I've had enough of this place, think you can make it outside Selin-"

The feeling of something cold clamping around his neck made Ethan whip his gaze back to the wounded thief but before he could process anything a high voltage pulsed through his veins bringing him to the floor as his body convulsed.

"I am really sorry about this kid...I mean it, _I am sorry,_ it's nothing personal"

Selina stood over him all previous signs of injury now gone.

 _She's not hurt..._

"I mean it's not like I enjoy being two-faced...huh...that's ironic"

Ethan clawed at the metal around his neck whimpering when he realized what it was.

 _Inhibitor collar...she put an inhibitor collar on me..._

The collar let out another pulse that sapped the strength from his muscles making the teen cry out.

"W-why!?"

Catwoman bit her lip.

"Harv hid the device somewhere, bastard wouldn't tell me where, my guess is he'll have it smuggled back to him somehow if he manages to escape the Bat tonight..."

The weight of the collar felt like it was growing heavier.

"...and without it I have no way to stop said Bat from tracking me...so I need time...I need a distraction"

Tears burned in Ethan's eyes as he remembered Robin's words from earlier.

 _ _'Or__ _she needs a distraction and what better way than to bring in an unstable meta-human'_

A new kind of pain worked its way through his body one that didn't come from the collar but instead stabbed from within.

"You'll keep the Bat busy for awhile right? You can do that for little old me"

That same pain filled Ethan's voice when he spoke.

"F-fuck you!"

Selina frowned pouting at her incapacitated partner.

"Such language"

There was fighting going on further inside the building they could hear it through the walls, Selina eyed the hallway Robin had disappeared into warily then moved towards the opposite exit.

"I trusted you!"

The thief froze back still facing the teen.

"I TRUSTED YOU!"

Ethan's voice broke as he tried to not sound like he wasn't hurt like hell by her betrayal.

"You should have known better than to play with stray cats Sparkles"

He couldn't take this, after everything he had been through he couldn't let someone else screw him over like this. She had lied to him, played him like a fiddle and snapped him in two without hesitation. She'd used his Mother against him, used it to her advantage, her voice from their first encounter whispered in his ear.

 _'A golden opportunity for those who know how to take it'_

He ground his teeth together, anger giving strength back to his bones as he pulled himself up to stand on shaky legs.

Selina turned, head tilted to the side curiously.

"I won't let you get away with this...I won't! This...This isn't fair!"

Catwoman's brows shot up in surprise but that quickly gave way to loud silky laughter.

Ethan ran at her the hurt and rage spurring him on. Selina glided out of his reach as he took a swing ducking under his arm and bringing her knee up into his stomach.

Ethan hunched over wheezing out a breath then he tried to tackle her but instead ended up meeting a metal toe-capped boot, the kick knocked him down and what ever rage he had seeped into the cold floor.

Ethan could feel warm liquid trickle down his face, without his powers he was no match for the thief.

Selina crouched next to him this time her face was full of sympathy.

"You're right, this isn't fair..."

The collar sparked up again nearly pushing him into a sweet blissful void of unconsciousness.

"...but this is _Gotham,_ its kill or be killed, luckily you didn't end up learning that the hard way, and whatever you might think _this_ is better than what those maniacs out there would have done to you"

Ethan didn't reply, he couldn't, his tongue felt like a paper weight in his mouth.

"I'm not one of the bad guys but I'm not one of the good ones either...I wish this could have turned out better"

Catwoman got up and positioned herself by the exit pulling her cowl over her head and the goggles over her eyes.

"See you around kid"

With that she left Ethan there on the floor bloody and broken with that cursed collar pulling him further and further away from the waking world and when the darkness finally took him Ethan dreamt of cats lapping at warm milk and bats swarming from above.

.

.

 _Soooooo...who saw that coming?_

 _Not gonna lie I totally saw it coming...cause y'know...I writ it._

 _I was torn over this, on the one hand Catwoman isn't a villain and she will occasionally do some good but she isn't exactly an upstanding citizen either. I wanted to show that darker side of what she is willing to do to get herself ahead of the game and the lines she is willing to cross to do so._

 _Regardless, hope you enjoyed reading._


	11. Chapter 11

_._

 _._

 ** **Chapter 11****

 ** **Paragon****

 ** **Robin****

Dick liked being right.

It was satisfying to figure other people out, discovering the intention behind their motivations and putting that knowledge to practice was invigorating.

But sometimes being right was a bitter-sweet taste, especially when it came to being right about the wrong kind of people.

The Boy Wonder stood outside the holding cells under Mt Justice thinking of a way to make himself appear like he wasn't thinking 'I told you so'.

But it was impossible because Robin had told him. He _knew_ this was going to happen.

But Ethan hadn't listened.

Yes that's right. _Ethan._ Ethan Tucker. Son of Mary and Thomas Tucker. School drop-out; part time thief and wanted criminal.

It was strange to finally be able to put a name to their meta-human.

Everything there ever was to know about Ethan Tucker they now knew, from his birthday to last grade he got for his history exam, one finger print scan and his entire life was accessible to them in seconds.

Miracles of technology.

 _ _The doors aren't going to open themselves.__

Robin squared his shoulders and pushed the access panel.

The holding cells were rarely used as it was League policy to avoid bringing villains back to their bases. In fact Dick had heard rumors that these cells had seen more use by Arrow and Lantern after they became too rowdy during a few late night drinking contests back in the day.

But for now the cells held only one occupant who sat against the wall long legs drawn up against his chest with his arms dangling over them.

Ethan was still in the same leather get-up from the night before with the exact same inhibitor collar around his neck. Bruce kept the collar on as a 'security measure' and while Dick understood his caution it seemed a little over the top.

"Hey there" Dick smiled brightly but the other teen didn't respond to his enthusiasm, instead he leaned his head against the wall staring blankly infront of him.

Dick didn't let it deter him.

"Hows League hospitality so far?"

Ethan silently kept his gaze focused on the wall.

"This isn't an interrogation...I'm just checking up on you"

He finally looked at him with suspicious eyes.

"Why?"

"Why? I..."

 _ _I wanted to__ _._

"...-Batman's orders, just making sure you're okay"

"Okay?!" Ethan glared heatedly at Dick.

"She stabbed me in the back! Lied about everything! And you want to know if I'm __okay?__ I'm just fucking __peachy__ thank you!"

Robin winced at his tone. When they had returned to the court room last night they found Selina missing and her accomplice unconscious on the ground, bloody and bruised with one of Batman's own inhibitor collars around his neck.

It hadn't gone down well with either of them.

There was little guess work about what happened and the blank spots were filled in following Ethan's questioning.

Surprisingly the meta had been forthcoming with them, answering every question honestly even allowing Martian Manhunter and Black Canary to conduct their own separate interviews. But he was easily riled up and prone to emotional outbursts, the events of last night were raw in his mind, it was obvious he had taken Selina's deception hard.

"I didn't mean to upset you, we're generally concerned"

Ethan shook his head angrily.

"I bet you are, can't decide if its going to be Belle Reve or Blackgate can you?"

"That's not..."

Robin considered his words he didn't know for certain what the plan was yet, their mentors were discussing how to best deal with the situation.

"...I know you're hurting I get that, I really do, I'm only trying to help"

The faintest glint of moisture could be seen in the corner of Ethan's eyes but he blinked it away wrapping his muscular forearms around his knees.

"You warned me" Pain laced Ethan's voice drenching it in sad vibes.

"You warned me about her, what she would do...you told me I didn't know her, and I didn't listen, too stubborn, too __stupid__ "

Dick moved closer sensing the angry evaporate from the room

"Hey, don't call yourself that"

"But it's true, I teamed up with a snake and let it bite me"

The Boy Wonder chose his words carefully.

"This is what Selina does...I'm sorry you found out the way you did, but you're not the only one whose ended up hurt for falling for her"

Ethan looked at him puzzled.

"What?"

Dick stood there gaping like a fish thinking of the best way to put in.

"Y'know...you've got the hots for her?...I just assumed you had it bad"

So many expressions danced over that chiselled face; confusion, shock, disgust.

"What?! No way! I'm...I'm not...never mind"

Dick was confused, he had been certain that was the reason why Ethan followed her around like a lap dog. And even though he hated her guts Dick wasn't blind, Selina was a stunning woman, most teenage boys his age would have been _thrilled_ to hang around her.

"It's just that you're the type she usually likes around; strong, tall, handsome"

Ethan blushed adding color to those pale cheeks.

 _ _Cute. What?...Focus.__

"You sure you didn't like her...?"

"I'm _sure..._ it wasn't like that, she's old enough to be my mother and..."

Ethan stopped speaking, cautiously looking at Robin deciding if telling him his thoughts would be worth it.

"And?...you can talk to me...you can _trust_ me" The Boy Wonder spoke with his deepest sincerity hoping it would encourage Ethan to open up, the meta-human steadily held his gaze and Dick's pulse began to beat faster. When Ethan looked away Dick tried to chase his eyes with his own wanting to stare into those bright green orbs again.

"I don't know who to trust anymore"

Dick felt a pang in his chest realizing Ethan didn't believe him. The wariness was understandable, betrayal really made you consider the intentions of those around you much more closely. But Dick didn't give up there.

"I'm not her _Ethan_. I'm one of the good guys and I've dealt with the backlash that comes with Catwoman before, I know how it feels to be screwed over by someone you trust"

When Selina had first gotten together with his Father it had been good. Bruce smiled and laughed more than any other time he remembered, he was open and funny, always making jokes, Alfred had even caught him sending stupid romantic messages in bouquets of flowers addressed to a Miss Kyle. But when their professional interests began to cross paths it got ugly fast.

"You know my name?"

Dick had missed the look of surprise the other teen gave him from hearing his name come out of Robin's mouth.

"Yeah, we know everything, sorry I should have mentioned earlier, there's nothing you could say at this point that would shock me"

Ethan looked bewildered and Robin decided it wasn't wise to force this any further.

"I'll respect your decision to keep to yourself, but I'll be around if you want to talk"

Robin made his way to the exit.

"Wait..."

The Boy Wonder stopped and looked at him, then decided to mirror Ethan's position on the floor. It took awhile for Ethan to talk but Dick didn't rush him letting the other male gather his thoughts.

"It's just...for so long I was alone, Mom was stuck in the hospital and my Dad he..."

Dick watched Ethan swallow the lump in his throat. He already knew about Ethan's Father, he'd seen the digital death certificate.

"...his gone and it was just me, on my own all the time...I tried to get by, tried to do things the right way, I __tried__ but it was too damn hard and nobody gave a shit"

Ethan spat out the last words clenching his fists.

"I got desperate enough to do things the wrong way, and then she appeared, came out of nowhere offering to help me with all my problems and I said yes...because for the first time in forever there was someone __there__ again, someone I could talk to, someone I could rely on...and I wasn't alone anymore"

Dick's heart went out to him, he knew how it felt to be left alone without your parents there to guide you.

"I really thought she had my back in this, I thought she would keep her word...I _trusted_ her"

Ethan voice rose, emotions spiking high, Robin decided to bring him back down.

"You were alone and she took advantage, that was wrong of her, it's on her conscious not yours" Dick spoke compassionately which seemed to sooth Ethan who huffed looking down at the floor with sad, shiny eyes.

"I was just an opportunity to exploit, she never really cared"

Dick frowned hoping that wherever Selina was she was feeling at least a shred of guilt. Robin wondered if there were others like Ethan out there, those who had been used and discarded by the thief, there had to be some. It might even be an effective way to track her down. He filed the thought away for later.

"Selina won't get away with this, there's only so far she can run from us"

Ethan mumbled something Dick didn't quite catch then unzipped his leather jacket so he could stretch his shoulders more freely. Dick caught glimpses of firm skin that promised a much more pleasing display under the leather but his inner Robin reined in his focus.

"I don't care about getting back at her...this...this was all on me" Ethan said with a dejected voice.

The Boy Wonder didn't really know what else to say, he wanted Ethan to understand the error of his ways and he seemed to have a decent moral compass. But Dick didn't think piling the blame onto himself was the best way to deal with this.

Ethan turned his head towards him still partially watching the floor.

"What's going to happen to me?"

 _ _Okay...his been open with me...better give something in return.__

"The higher ups are talking about it now, and from what I've heard nobody is planning to send you to Belle Reve __or__ BlackGate, so that's a good sign, I'll get back to you later once I know for sure"

That seemed to be enough to satisfy him for now, the meta let some of the tension go rolling his shoulders then looking at Robin mischievously.

"So I'm handsome huh?"

Dick brows rose.

"What?"

"You said _'strong, tall, handsome'_ , you totally think I'm handsome"

He rolled his eyes feeling his cheeks heat up.

"Okay, I think visiting time is over, yep" Robin's usual voice was laced with uncomfortable embarrassment as he got to his feet. Ethan smiled to himself pleased with the response he got out of him.

"I'll drop by later, let you know what's going on"

"Looking forward to it" He even had the cheek to __wink__ at him.

Dick stared not knowing how to respond other than to throw back a smart remark.

"Stick around yeah?"

Ethan laughed.

"Don't think I'll be going anywhere anytime soon...go do Robin stuff"

Dick left with a smile hearing the door close behind him.

Red was a color he preferred to keep exclusively on his costume. But at least he managed to lift Ethan's spirits some, not to mentioned he had unloaded some of that emotional baggage weighing him down. There was more there beneath the surface, Dick could see it rippling beneath the waves but it wouldn't serve a purpose to force it out of him. The playful flirting was probably a way for him to make light of it all, regain control of the situation before it got too real, it was a common thing for people to do when faced with heavy emotions.

A soft crunch drew Dick's attention to a familiar red-head leaning against the wall up ahead.

"Sooo you going to tell me who's in there or is it still a _notsosecret_ secret"

 _Wally._

The speedster bit into the apple in his hand and Dick mentally praised him for eating something other than junk food.

"You know I can't tell you" Dick's tone was dismissive which made Wally frown as he followed his friend down the corridor.

"Come on I'm your bestie! Is it a bad guy? Oh! Did you bring Two-whats-his-face here?!"

"No...how do you even know about that?"

"Oh please, you've been bitching about that bad guy forever, but that's not important, whats important is you're hiding something from your favorite speedster"

Wally took another messy bit into the apple then eyed the red tinge on Robin's cheeks.

"Wait, are you blushing?"

"No." Dread quickly filled Dick knowing his friend would read into it.

"You are!"

Wally suddenly gasped grabbing Dick's arm as bits of apple tumbled out his open mouth. Dick cringed _._

"It's a babe isn't it?!"

"What? No!"

Wally grinned wickedly.

"Oooh totally is! She cute? Does Big B know you've gotagirl?! C'mon tell me!"

"There's no girl Wally."

Wally made an 'o' shape with his mouth and Dick had to refrain from slapping himself.

"So it's a _dude..._ dude, you dog! So, is he hot? Howlong youbeing seeing him? Whenyougettingmarried?!"

"Wally shut up..."

The speedster made a sad face then lightly shoved his friend with a grin, Dick returned the gesture shaking his head.

"Seriously though, something we need to be worried about?" All of the earlier playfulness in Wally's voice gave way to a serious tone.

"No, nothing to worry about, but I'm not sure what's happening, B said he was talking with Canary over it, I'm going to see what they plan to do"

"Awesome, and on that note I'm going to get more food"

"You just ate"

"Yeah but I'm _hungry_ so later dude"

Air whizzed past his ears as his friend super-sped off to the kitchen. Dick's own stomach growled reminding him he hadn't eaten himself since late last evening but he would see to that later he needed to talk to Bruce first.

It had been a long night and no matter what victories they had won from shutting down Dent's base of operations they failed to catch the villain himself, it turned out Dent had indeed set a trap for his mentor and if Robin hadn't got there in time Gotham would have been short one vigilante.

Bruce wanted to continue pursuing Two-Face but Dick insisted they go back, persistently nagging his mentor that Selina was up to something.

He was right of course.

One unconscious meta-human later and they had to decide what to do; chase Dent, chase Selina or help Ethan.

It hadn't been much of a decision Ethan was unconscious and injured they couldn't just leave him there. Plus Bruce didn't want the authorities to have him, meta-humans faced extreme prejudice in the judicial systems with near all criminal cases ending up with imprisonment in specialized facilities like Belle Reve. And if the hunch Robin had was anything to go by he knew his mentor was aiming for a better path of redemption for the teen.

But it still sucked.

Two-Face remained at large, Selina was officially number one on Robin's list of assholes and they had endless amounts of work piling up on them.

 _Just another day on the job._

Robin found his mentor sitting in the conference room with J'onn and Canary, having just finished up a conversation the three League members looked in his direction as he entered.

"Robin good to see you, hows our guest doing?" Canary smiled pleasantly at him as she spoke.

"All things considered, good, we talked about things, seemed to clear his head"

"That's good to hear, he seems like a good kid despite being a hot head" Robin nodded in agreement.

"His defensive, probably worried about what's going to happen...speaking of which"

Canary tilted her head in Bruce's direction urging him to speak.

"We have come to an agreement on a suitable course of action"

"Which is?" Dick felt a ball of nervous energy gather in his gut.

"After interviews with both Canary and Manhunter we've observed there to be no obvious threat-"

" _No_ threat" Canary corrected.

"...at this moment in time, we've agreed to offer him an opportunity to help himself and help others"

 _Totally called it._

"The team? You're thinking of putting him on the team right?"

"Yes, do you have objections?" J'onn said calmly.

"No...well, _some,_ but no personal objections" Dick found the idea exciting overall it meant Ethan would be sticking around and it was a much better alternative to imprisonment. But he had some professional concerns.

"What do you mean?" J'onn asked.

"Many of us already had the training and experience needed for the team before we joined, wouldn't it be dangerous to throw a rookie into missions? I know he can fight but what we do is different from beating up street thugs"

J'onn nodded knowingly.

"He would have appropriate training provided before being assigned to missions, our main concern is what would happen if local authorities gained jurisdiction over him"

The League had many enemies out there who would be more than happy to exploit Ethan's position. The Boy Wonder's chest tightened at the thought.

"Regardless, our goal from the beginning was to expand the team to include a wider variety of people willing to make a difference, as for his level of experience it isn't an issue, both M'gann and Superboy were in the same boat when they joined" Canary rose to her feet readjusting her gloves.

It was true, although M'gann had her Uncle's guidance to rely on and Superboy had the entirety of the Cadmus data base downloaded into his head.

"So I guess that's that then, cool, when do we make the announcement?"

"J'onn and I will speak with Ethan in a moment but we will wait till tomorrow to inform the rest of your team, everyone could do with some rest..."

Canary laid a hand gently on Robin's shoulder.

"...make sure you get some as well"

Dick nodded watching her and J'onn leave the room, after the doors closed behind them he sat down next to Bruce at the table.

"Anything on Selina or Dent?"

Batman shook his head.

"Dent's men aren't talking and Selina covered her tracks from the start"

 _Of course she covered up any leads._

A moment of silence passed as his father drummed his fingers on the table, an odd habit that Bruce did when thinking.

"You know about his parents?" Robin nodded slowly at Bruce's question.

"Both were GCPD officers, Black Mask's men put them in the hospital, Dad didn't make it"

The only silver lining to that story was the crime boss known as Black Mask was reaching his tenth year behind bars with no chance of parole.

And yet somehow Gotham's citizens were still recovering from the maniac's actions.

Dick had been with his parents in Haly's Circus back then, but he heard gruesome stories about Mask's attempt to forcibly seize control from the Falcone family. Many lost their lives and Bruce being Bruce blamed himself for it. It wouldn't surprise Dick to learn that Bruce blamed himself for Ethan's situation as well.

"At least we can help _him_ , undo some of the damage" Robin said with optimism.

Bruce nodded solemnly. "We keep him with the League and he won't have reason to repeat past mistakes"

"Exactly...so...code name? Gotta have one for the team, any ideas?"

His Father's mouth formed a witty smile.

"...Paragon"

.

.

 _Hope you enjoyed the chapter!_

 _So some context, I want to explain the reasoning why Ethan's hero name is going to be 'Paragon'._

 _A paragon is defined as a thing/person that is a perfect example of a particular quality. In this case B deciding to call Ethan 'Paragon' is because he sees Ethan as a Paragon for Justice (You might have seen the story title...) against the past actions of Black Mask, something good coming from that dark time._

 _Anywho that's not 'important' to know I just wanted to explain further._

 _Au revoir for now._

 _._

 _._


	12. Chapter 12

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 **The next day.**

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 **Ethan**

Ethan sighed with relief as the collar snapped off his neck.

Wearing the device had been a grueling experience, every time Ethan had reached out for his powers they had been pulled back by an unseen force, it was like being held underwater with no hope of coming up for air. He hated it. Without his powers he was just like everyone else; weak, vulnerable, exposed. All the qualities that made you an easy victim.

But as his abilities sank back into his bones Ethan felt his senses sharpen, he could sense the ground under him feeling the vibrations echoing through it.

He felt like himself once again.

"Feel better?" Black Canary stood by the now open containment cell watching the teenager.

"Much, thank you" Ethan rubbed his neck massaging the areas the collar had rubbed raw.

Canary gestured for J'onn to move forwards which caused Ethan to back away from the green-skinned Martian.

The teen couldn't help his apprehension, after the interview with Manhunter he hadn't been able to look at him the same. It had been Ethan's first encounter with an actual alien up close and on top of that the alien in question was one of Earth's most famous heroes. And of course the second he realized that there was someone _inside_ his mind his traitorous brain thought it would be hilarious to summon every dirty, perverted thought he had had about the League's male members.

After a blustered string of apologies Ethan forced himself to think of puppies and rainbows _not_ Green Lantern's ass. Thankfully the Martian didn't freak out, instead he kindly reassured him such a response to first-contact telepathy was normal. Needless to say it had been an awkward experience.

"I mean you no harm" J'onn's spoke calmly.

"I know...sorry, this is weird...like really weird"

"I understand..."

J'onn slowly placed a pile of clothes at the foot of the bed.

"..fresh clothes, these were borrowed for your use"

Ethan eyed the black shirt and cargo pants mumbling a thanks.

"You remember what we discussed last night?" Ethan nodded at Canary remembering the words he shared with her and Manhunter the night before.

"Yeah...although I don't believe it"

Canary unfolded her arms standing straight.

"Believe it. This is a second shot, make the most of it"

Ethan nodded again, this time more slowly.

"We'll wait outside, don't take too long"

Now alone in the cell block Ethan ran his fingers through his hair. Briefly he thought about slapping himself to make sure he was truly awake but he remembered he had his super-strength again and it would probably hurt...

The U-turns his life was taking felt like part of some big ironic joke. Forty-eight hours ago he was breaking and entering with a master thief and now he was being recruited by the League for a secret 'team'. They hadn't told him much. All he knew was that the team had been founded by the League and formed up of various sidekicks and other young heroes.

And now he was part of it. On a team full of real-life heroes, on a team with Robin.

The Boy Wonder was a familiarity that he clung to in all this madness. After their conversation yesterday Ethan found himself thinking about him often. There was something about him that made the meta-human feel at ease; maybe it was his good nature, his smile or the way he blushed from the rock-wielder's teasing. He wasn't sure, but Ethan hoped he could continue to cling onto the closeness they had shared in the short amount of time they had known each other.

Especially because Ethan was struggling to make sense of everything that was transpiring around him.

Selina's backstabbing had really messed with his head. Ethan had let himself be fooled and now he didn't know if he would ever be able to put his faith in anyone again. And no matter how badly he wanted to believe Robin's words from yesterday he didn't want to repeat the same mistakes.

What was it Selina had said? ' _Never trust anyone who isn't under your paycheck...'._ Ethan remembered the night she had said that, looking back, he should have taken that advice much more seriously.

The League had offered the young teenager an olive branch but he didn't trust them, he _couldn't_ _._ Nobody offers something without a price being attached. But it wasn't like he could have argued anyway. Us or them. That was the choice he was given. The League or the police. Vigilante or criminal.

It didn't take much brain power to choose, at least if he worked with the League he could figure out a way to help his Mom _._ Something he wouldn't be able to do behind bars. The thought of being held in a meta-human facility with one of those collars around his neck again made him feel sick and despite what his life choices might say he was in no rush to find himself in such a situation.

The teenager knew he needed to check up on his mom soon it had been too long since his last visit and although she was safe where she was he wanted to make sure of it himself. He also needed to figure out a way to sweet talk the people asking for payments...even if he hadn't yet worked out a new plan for meeting those payments.

But for now he would have to do whatever the League wanted him to. Whether he liked it or not.

Ethan pulled off his dirtied clothes glad that he could wear something that wasn't stained with blood and betrayal. As he put on the clean clothes he was surprised to find they fit rather snug although the shirt felt a little tight around his chest and shoulders. It was only when he was fully dressed that he noticed the red 'S' shield on the front of the shirt but he shrugged making his way to the awaiting League members outside.

When the doors opened Canary and Manhunter motioned for him to follow leading him down winding corridors of exposed rock.

Ethan could sense the cool stone around them, it rose up high above but was built like an anthill with different passages and tunnels funneling in and out.

"Are we underground?" Ethan asked curiously.

The teen walked between Canary and Manhunter occasionally peeking at them in the corner of his eye.

"Close, but no, we're not"

"A mountain then?"

Canary gave him suspicious look and Ethan quickly explained himself.

"My powers they let me... _feel_ the ground around me"

Canary's primped eyebrows rose.

"Interesting...that seems like a handy talent" She mentally mused the potential possibilities.

"Sometimes I guess...this team, what are they like?" Ethan asked hesitantly.

"They're a group of talented young people, all looking to make this world a better place, I think you'll like them"

"That's...great" _But I'm not so sure they'll like me._ Ethan thought.

Canary sensed his uncertainty opting to offer some comfort.

"I know the circumstances in which you've joined us are _unconventional_ to say the least, but give this a chance, you have this one opportunity to better yourself, don't waste it" Canary said with sincerity.

Ethan struggled to take her words at face value. He knew this was an _amazing_ opportunity. Joining the League? It had been his life's dream at one point. But it was all wrong. Ethan couldn't be a hero. Because being a hero meant he was one of the good guys and good guys didn't do the things he had done. And although this was what he wanted with all his heart, Ethan knew he couldn't become one of them. Being a hero meant he would never be able to save the one person that mattered the most.

"Any other questions?" Canary asked.

Ethan had hundreds but the one that found itself falling out of his lips was the simplest.

"Can I go home?"

A sympathetic look was shared between the two adults flanking him.

"I'm sorry...but for the moment you are required to remain under our supervision"

It was just as he had feared.

"You will be provided with your own quarters, here, with the rest of the team, but any off-site visits will have to be approved _and_ accompanied by a senior member"

Ethan ground his teeth with frustration.

"So I'm still your prisoner" The rock-wielder couldn't help sounding bitter.

Canary stopped turning on the teen with a steeled gaze.

"You don't understand the risk we're taking here, _technically_ we're breaking several laws by not only allowing you to join our ranks but also by _ignoring_ the crimes you have committed..."

Ethan swallowed dropping his eyes to the floor.

"...you aren't our prisoner, but you _are_ on probation, and if you are unable to follow the conditions we have set then you will leave us no choice but to adhere to the laws of the land, understand?"

Ethan nodded glumly feeling like a naughty six-year old before the fierce heroine.

"Good..."

Canary stepped closer letting her gaze become lighter.

"...work with us, _prove_ you truly want to make a change, and the League will do whatever it can to help you"

 _It's not me I want to help..._ Ethan thought sadly.

As her words sank in Ethan simply nodded even though he was screaming inside.

"Now lets go meet your team"

.

.

 **Robin**

Dick sat with M'gann and Superboy in the kitchen area happily munching away at the baked goodies M'gann and Superboy had cooked.

"Mmm these are so good!" Dick said as he stuffed a fourth cookie into his mouth.

"They turned out much better than the first batch...not burning the mix improves the taste greatly" M'gann handed one to Superboy who sniffed at it warily before popping it into his mouth.

"Mmmm, who knew?" Dick said happily.

"Do you think the new guy will want some?"

"I...don't know, you'll have to ask"

M'gann smiled putting several on a separate plate for their new team member.

"I can't believe someones joining us...I mean I knew we'd get more members eventually, just not so soon, there's going to be _seven_ of us now!" M'gann said excitedly.

"Yeah...It feels a bit sudden but we'll manage, we're a team..."

Dick grabbed a spoon from the table dramatically raising it up in the air.

"ALL FOR ONE!..."

Superboy and M'gann stared at the Boy Wonder then shared a lost look with each other.

Dick huffed.

"C'mon guys...all for one, one for all? The Three Musketeers?! No?...now I feel stupid"

"There's only four Musketeers in that story, not _seven_ " Superboy bluntly stated.

"Dude...I was trying to have a moment with you" Dick said while waving the spoon in Superboy's face.

M'gann giggled picking up a biscuit for herself.

"I've never heard that story...is it anything like the one Wally loves, Trek Wars?...I can't remember what he called it"

Dick clutched his heart in feigned offence.

" _Star Wars_ and no it's not the same it's-"

"It doesn't make sense, why is it called The _Three_ Musketeers when there's four characters" Superboy criticized.

"And what does it have to do with waving my spoon in the air?..." M'gann snatched said spoon out of the Boy Wonder's hand.

"...does it have saber swords in it as well?"

" _Light sabers_. No it doesn't it's about this one guy-"

"That doesn't make sense either, you can't turn light into a _sword_ the entire plot of that movie is flawed." Superboy cut in again.

"Dude! So not cool, if Wally were here he'd have died from a broken heart"

"At least then we wouldn't have to listen to both of you nerds" Superboy quipped.

"Dude!"

M'gann laughed and despite how wounded his inner Sci-fi geek was right now Dick laughed with her. In the corner of his lens he thought he saw the clone try to hide a small grin. To think a few weeks ago Superboy and the Martian had been at odds with each other, now they were practically joined at the hip.

Dick wondered if there was more to it than that...maybe he would ask later.

Someone cleared their throat behind them and the three teenagers turned to see Martian Manhunter standing at the entrance to the kitchen.

"Uncle J'onn!" M'gann flew over to her uncle hugging him tightly.

"Did you come to see me? We just made cookies and Robin was telling us about the Three Muske-trek Wars...or something like that"

Dick face-palmed himself.

"That's...interesting, but I'm afraid I didn't come to visit, I need you all to come with me, are the others around?" J'onn asked.

"Oh, Artemis and Wally went out earlier I'm not sure where, and Aqualad is still recovering from the Bialya mission in Atlantis, is something wrong?"

"No, I wanted to introduce you all to your new team member"

"Oh! Of course! Lets go!" She said quickly grabbing the plate of cookies she set aside.

M'gann practically levitated both Superboy and Robin out of the kitchen as they followed J'onn towards the training ring. It wasn't much of a surprise for Dick since he had been in the loop from the start but M'gann looked generally excited about meeting someone new, even Superboy looked mildly curious.

So this was it, Ethan would be on the team. Dick felt his own excitement bubble pleasantly.

When they reached the training area Black Canary awaited them standing proudly as she saw her students approach. Ethan was there as well standing beside her fidgeting nervously.

The first thing Robin noticed were the borrowed clothes he wore and how _snugly_ they fit, the fabric stretched tightly across his chest leaving little to his imagination and Dick knew he was going to have trouble focusing.

Canary confidently addressed the three approaching teenagers.

"Everyone, this is Ethan, aka _Paragon_ , the new addition to the team"

M'gann was first to welcome him smiling brightly as she offered up the cookies she had brought with her.

"Hi! I'm M'gann, this is Superboy and Robin, welcome aboard I guess!"

Ethan gazed at the freshly baked cookies then back at the green girl offering them, his eyes briefly flickered to Dick who nodded encouragingly.

Paragon took one of the treats and took a bite.

"Thanks" He mumbled.

M'gann smiled as Canary and J'onn began moving away.

"We'll leave him in your hands, show him around and help him get settled in"

"Will do" Robin replied.

"And Ethan, remember what we discussed" Canary gave him a knowing look and the meta-human nodded watching the senior League members leave the teenagers alone.

"Good to see you again, sleep well?" Dick asked.

"As well as I could, containment cells were a bit uncomfortable...you never came back"

Dick felt a pang of guilt.

"Oh yeah...sorry dude, Canary and Manhunter beat me to it, figured I'd just let you rest"

Ethan pouted at the smaller teen.

"Here I thought I'd frightened you away"

"Ha no chance, I just didn't want to inflate that ego anymore"

Ethan grinned and _winked_ at him. Dick huffed in response.

"Why were you in the containment cells...?" M'gann inquired innocently which reminded Robin that his team didn't know the whole truth about Ethan.

"Oh, erm I...er-"

"His quarters weren't ready yet and it was the only free space" Robin inserted abruptly.

"What? That's silly! He could have bunked with Superboy, right?"

Superboy who up until that point had remained quiet moved closer glowering at Ethan's clothes.

"That's my shirt" Superboy said accusingly.

Ethan looked down inspecting the shirt and comparing it to the one Superboy wore. Dick swallowed as he saw Ethan's pectorals shift under the fabric.

"Yeah looks like it, you got a problem?"

"You've stretched it...why are you wearing my shirt?"

"...That's a good question..."

Ethan looked at Robin for help and Dick snapped out of his daze realizing he was watching the other males pecs too intently.

"He...was on a mission with me and Bats and...we came straight here after, didn't have time to pick up clean civvies"

Ethan shot him a grateful look.

"I thought you and Batman were an _exclusive_ dynamic duo?" Superboy queried.

 _Jeez whats with all the questions today?_ Dick thought.

"It was a weird night and aren't we forgetting to do something?"

M'gann suddenly lit up.

"Hello M'gann! Tour! We need to give you a tour! Come on, this way! We'll start with the kitchen"

M'gann turned back into the corridor they had come from leading the way, Superboy watched the Boy Wonder and Paragon a moment longer then followed.

When they were alone Dick bumped Ethan's shoulder with his own smiling up at the taller teen.

"I'm glad you decided to join us"

Ethan hummed dipping his head closer to Robin.

"Better than the alternative right?"

Dick nodded briefly distracted by how close the other male's face was.

"No arguments there...besides this is a way cooler gig you'll see"

"Yeah...we'll see" Ethan hesitantly replied.

Robin tilted his head towards the corridor M'gann and Superboy had disappeared into.

"Come on, M'gann loves playing hostess so prepare yourself for the tour of your life!...Oh! You can totally help me out, Sups doesn't think Star Wars has a good plot which he is so _wrong_ about, recon you could help me convince him otherwise?"

Ethan's brows drew together in confusion.

"The hell is Star Wars?"

Dick groaned.

"You've got to be kidding..."

.

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	13. Chapter 13

_._

 _._

 _Hey, would like to apologize for the weird set up some chapters have (i.e. no chapter title on the top of the page) I recently went through and cleaned up some previous chapters annnnnd I forgot to add the chapter titles..._

 _Sue me I'm human._

 _Anyway enjoy..._

 _._

 _._

 **Chapter 13**

 **Training**

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 **A few weeks later.**

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.

The alarm clock next to Ethan's bed began wailing it's awful tune signalling the start of the day. Ethan groaned lifting his head from his pillow to glare at it through sleepy eyes. 5:30am. He groaned again and hid his face under his pillow trying to ignore the alarm.

It didn't work.

Eventually the sound began to drill into his brain enough to make him move. His body was still sore from yesterdays training sessions but somehow he managed to crawl out from the warm embrace of the covers to slam the wretched thing into the wall.

The clock shattered into pieces.

 _Damn it._ Ethan thought.

That was the third one he'd broken this week.

Knowing he would need to be at the training ring soon Ethan sleepily stumbled to the adjoining bathroom to freshen up. It wasn't his fault that he had become the executioner of alarm clocks, it was Canary's. Both her and her _insane_ early morning training regiments.

His stay with the League had been an interesting experience, Ethan found himself repeating a routine; get up, shower, eat, spend the first half of the day getting the living shit beaten out of him by Black Canary and then spend the other half of the day nursing his wounds. His body had to quickly adjust to the new demands even if he felt like a zombie every time he crawled back into bed.

His new mentor insisted he learn to defend himself _without_ powers and while he understood the value of it he didn't like it.

Ethan had always relied on his gifts and without them he was sorely disadvantaged, but after seeing Canary fight first-hand he realized how valuable her tutoring would be.

Black Canary was a walking weapon. There wasn't anyone he knew that fought like she did. Most Gothamites _skulked_ in the shadows choosing to attack from the darkness rather than taking a fight head on.

But the heroine from Star City was a powerhouse brawler, she wasn't afraid to throw herself into the thick of it.

She was every bit the fighter Ethan wanted to be. He wanted to fight like her, get up close and personal to deliver a barrage of devastating blows to his enemy.

Stealth wasn't his area of expertise but being on the front lines of a fight? That he could do. So he soaked up her lessons listening intently to her teachings like a good student.

His team thought he was a little eager...the fast kid, _Wally_ , teased him about being a masochist but he didn't care. He wanted to learn.

Canary _loved_ his enthusiasm praising him for his positive attitude. The only other member of the team to willingly volunteer themselves for one on one combat sessions was Superboy, who Ethan discovered had some of the same problems he did when it came to control his abilities. And through their shared issues they had formed a weird 'bro bond'.

Robin kept saying he was Gotham's version of the kryptonian which wasn't really a bad thing. Superboy was _hot_ after all, he was also _straight_ , if the constant looks he gave M'gann were any indication.

But oddly enough Ethan didn't think about him that way, he saw more of himself in the clone than anyone else on the team and if he wasn't planning on jumping ship soon he knew they would have become close friends.

After brushing his teeth and grabbing a quick shower Ethan quickly threw on the workout clothes they had given him and left his quarters.

It cut him up knowing he was going to abandon this team, it had been so long since he had gotten the chance to hang around others his own age and it reminded him just how much he missed it.

Superboy was the brother he never had; Wally was a dork but a funny dork, M'gann was incredibly sweet, Artemis was a sassy hard-ass and Aqualad was the silent over-seer of them all.

And Robin...Robin was well...wow.

Robin was everything Ethan wanted in a man; handsome, kind, funny. The Boy Wonder had a long list of positive qualities and the more time Ethan spent around him the more he wanted him.

Ethan knew he was falling for him, if he were a little more attuned to his emotions he might have realized it sooner.

Robin's laugh made him smile, his carefree playfulness made him feel happy and his never ending capacity to keep Ethan grounded made him feel secure.

Ethan wanted Robin. And that was dangerous.

The meta knew he needed to distance himself, pull away from the team and stay in a permanent bubble of isolation. It would make leaving so much easier.

But he couldn't, he craved Robin's attention and whenever the Boy Wonder wasn't there to satisfy his craving he found himself fantasying about him. It was weird to have time to actually have fantasy's in the first place but being on house arrest gave him nothing but time, and when he was alone in his room Ethan thought about Robin and what it would be like to kiss that silly grin off his face.

It didn't matter though.

Ethan would be on the run soon, and he would never see the Boy Wonder again.

It's not like he would have had a chance anyway. Robin wasn't interested in him like that, he didn't smile around him more than the others, he didn't blush at _his_ words. It didn't mean anything. For all he knew Robin probably had a _girlfriend_.

 _If that's true I hate her already._ Ethan thought sourly.

When the teenager reached his destination he spotted Canary armed with a towel over her shoulder setting up the training ring. Superboy was there as well dressed in similar workout clothes helping her set up the holographic display on the floor.

"Morning" Ethan greeted gruffly.

"Hey, here catch" Superboy threw an energy bar at Ethan. The rock-wielder caught it and quickly rid it of its wrapper stuffing it into his mouth ungracefully.

"Thanks..." Ethan said between bites.

"...what we doing today? More cardio?"

Canary looked up from the display waving a greeting to the teen.

"Not quite, today, we're focusing on hand to hand combat..."

 _Oh boy, here come the bruises._ Ethan thought.

"... _with_ powers"

" Really?!"

Canary smiled at the teenager's excited voice gesturing for them both to stand before her.

"I've asked you both here earlier than normal for you to practice one on one with each other"

"Not with you?" Ethan asked.

Canary shook her head.

"I teach you how to fight, not how to use your powers. Both of you have struggled with your abilities in the past and considering the similarities I believe this would be beneficial"

 _Super-strength, Superboy has super-strength as well..._ Ethan remembered.

Ethan had always held back in his training sessions, mainly because his sparring partner was usually Canary and she didn't have the same durability he did, so the teen had refrained from putting any strength behind his punches. But the chance to let loose? That sounded fun.

"Are you sure? I don't want to hurt him" Superboy said with concern.

Ethan laughed finding the thought funny.

"You scared of being embarrassed by a rookie?"

Superboy snorted.

"I'm scared of _embarrassing_ the rookie"

"I'll have you on your ass in a heart beat _Super-Kid_ "

Canary held up a hand interrupting their playful banter.

"Boys, take this seriously. The purpose here isn't to win but to learn..."

Canary moved away to the side reactivating the holographic display which brought the training ring alive, the heroine then smirked at them.

"...but if it's a competition you want, then the first one to be thrown out of the ring has clean up duty for a week."

That was cruel. Ethan was _not_ cleaning up the kitchen again, especially after lunch with Kid-Flash, the guy ate for ten people.

Superboy, who apparently was thinking along the same lines, lunged at him with a fierce determination.

Ethan shimmered solid holding his ground which made the clone pause his eyes wide in shock. It only occurred to Ethan then that this was the first time Superboy had seen him use his powers seeming how up until now all of his training had been strictly 'no meta-human cheating'.

"What? Am I that pretty?" Ethan teased.

Superboy rolled his eyes and charged again, but instead of tackling him head on he dropped to the floor swinging his legs under Ethan's.

The other teen lost his balance and fell with a grunt, he hadn't expected the clone to drop low at the last second. A fist made it's way towards him and Ethan quickly rolled away and got back to his feet.

"Remember, _act_ don't _react!_ " Canary shouted from the sidelines.

The ground under him practically hummed with excitement as adrenaline pumped in his veins. The two males traded blows each one echoing through the mountain like thunder, eventually they ended up tightly locked in a stale mate both teenagers trying to push the other back with no success.

"Didn't think you'd be this strong" Superboy grumbled through gritted teeth.

"Admit it, you just couldn't wait to get your hands on me"

Superboy rolled his eyes.

"You're not my type."

"Ouch! Here I thou-"

"STOP FLIRTING AND HIT EACH OTHER!" A voice hollered at them.

Ethan had to twist his head round to glance at the new shouting spectator. Artemis was there beside Canary dressed in pajamas looking tired and half-way ready to kill something.

Taking the archer's advice Ethan shifted his weight putting all his strength into his right shoulder then quickly broke his hold on the clone to ram into his chest. Superboy growled as he flew backwards landing a few feet away but still managing to stay upright.

Ethan then vibrated the ground beneath the Kryptonian's feet making his opponent lose balance as he mentally commanded the solid rock under them to surge upwards in a hand-like shape that reached out for Superboy with rough talon-like fingers.

His opponent wrestled with the summoned mineral-construct while Ethan moved to flank him, sensing the incoming attack Superboy ripped the earth-hand out from the ground and swung it round like a bat. When the construct harmlessly shattered upon contact with the crystal teen Superboy growled and charged.

The clone grabbed his shoulders and swung his head back in preparation to head-butt the rock-wielder. Unknown to Superboy the other teens crystal skull was impossibly thick and his Kryptonian head bounced right off Ethan's with a wet thud.

Superboy stumbled backwards stunned, then tripped and fell on his ass, outside the ring.

The display lightened up announcing Ethan the victor as the match evidently came to a close.

Canary gave a small applause to Ethan's victory then brought up the holographic display configuring it's settings for the next match.

"You okay?"

Ethan could practically see the cartoon birds circling over the clone's head.

"That. Hurt. What the hell are you made of?"

Ethan smiled offering a hand to help Superboy up, the clone took it shaking away the dizziness.

"Don't really know, crystal-diamond? Never found out for sure"

Superboy wobbled on his feet.

"Sure you're okay?"

The clone took a moment to steady himself then he nodded.

"Dizzy but I'm fine, won't be trying that again"

Ethan smiled.

"You could say I'm a knock-out huh?"

The clone laughed as Artemis walked up to them looking less tired but still ready to commit murder.

"Seeing _that_ made up for being woken up at _six in the morning_ by two nerds hitting each other"

"Sorry" Ethan said sheepishly.

Artemis shrugged.

"My fault, knew I should have went home last night"

"Why didn't you?" Superboy asked.

"I..slept over"

"But you don't have a room here, you said you didn't need one"

"I slept over with M'gann" Artemis said defensively.

Superboy frowned.

"But M'gann wasn't sleeping in her room last night"

Artemis arched a brow.

"And whose room was she sleeping in...?"

"Whose room were _you_ sleeping in." Superboy challenged.

They both glared at the other with a pink tinge in their cheeks.

Ethan smiled mischievously.

"Come to think of it, Wally stayed over last night as well didn't he?" Ethan said plainly.

The statement wasn't as innocent as the meta-human tried to make it seem. Ethan had already guessed that four out seven members of the team where dating each other but the seething glare he received from the archer only confirmed it.

"Whatever, I'm going to get breakfast" Artemis turned on her heel and disappeared down the corridor.

"Am I the only one _not_ sleeping with a team member?" Ethan whispered to Superboy.

"Depends on how long you wait to ask Robin out"

Ethan felt his face heat up as the clone smirked.

"Yeah, thought so" He said smugly walking back over to Canary.

After making sure Superboy hadn't given himself a concussion they continued their training until Canary seemed satisfied with the progress made and told them they were done for the day.

Sweaty and tired Ethan returned to his room to take another shower feeling better than he had in weeks...maybe even months. The physical exertion had given him the opportunity to burn away some of the pent up energy he had gained from restless nights.

It was strange how quickly he had settled in after his initial introduction the team had treated him like he had always been there, like he had always been part of their group. They included him in their conversations, let him pitch in for movie night, talked to him like an _equal_ and it was great.

Ethan felt like he was part of something bigger than himself, something meaningful and fulfilling.

Not to mention he was making friends with people like him; freaks, outcasts, aliens. Here he felt at peace, secluded within the walls of mountain far away from the painful clutches of reality.

But it wouldn't last.

Ethan had a promise to fulfill. And he would sacrifice his dreams of hero-hood to keep that promise.

The teen cut off the water and stepped out of the shower.

Now Ethan hadn't expected anyone to be in his room, least of all _Robin,_ so when he proudly strolled out of the bathroom adorned in nothing but his birthday suit it was quickly followed with two high-pitched yelps from either male and a rather ungraceful Ethan quickly scrambling to pull on some clothes.

"Sorry!" Robin squeaked from behind the suitcase he was using to shield his eyes.

"You didn't think to let me know you were there?!" Ethan pulled on some pants and a shirt in record time before letting the Boy Wonder know it was safe.

Robin lowered the suit case lenses flickering everywhere in the room but Ethan.

"Sorry, I erm, picked up some of your things, clothes mainly, figured you'd want them, I know it took us awhile to get round to it but here you go"

Ethan took the suitcase Robin offered with a thanks and rested it on his bed.

"You were in my home?" He questioned.

"Yeah, we were looking for leads on Selina"

"Did you find anything...?"

"Nothing rock solid, no pun intended,..."

Ethan shook his head.

"...but we did find this..."

Robin held up a plastic evidence bag that contained a single slip of paper. Ethan took it and stretched out the plastic to get a clearer view. His good mood quickly disintegrated when he read the message written on it.

 _'It was nothing personal kid, take care of yourself. S.K.'_

Ethan tightly clenched his jaw as his hands crushed the paper in the bag.

Robin saw the tension rippling under the surface as Ethan's muscles faintly shifted back and forth between creamy skin and crystal.

"Was there anything else?" Ethan said with a forced calmness.

"No, nothing, Bats didn't want to show you, but I thought it would be better if you saw"

Ethan nodded handed the now balled up note back.

"Thanks I appreciate it...this might sound stupid but, was there a cat there? Purple collar, black-fur, goes by the name Snowball?"

"Oh...no there wasn't"

 _She left nothing behind other than the note._ Ethan realized.

"Doesn't matter anyway...how did you even get in here I thought I locked the door" Ethan mumbled to himself.

"I was going to wait for you in the lounge, but Superboy _insisted_ I come to you"

 _That son of a..._

"He did huh...?"

"Yeah, now that I think about it, it was pretty strange, any idea why he'd do that?"

Ethan knew exactly why he would do that.

"I think...well...he may have been trying to play cupid"

Robin frowned.

"Wait...he was trying to set us up? Really?"

"Maybe"

Ethan was waiting for Robin to subtly hint he didn't swing that way or tell him he had a _girlfriend_ back in Gotham, his ridiculous crush would be put out of its misery and there would no longer be any reason to carry on this _thing_ with the Boy Wonder.

But when Robin unfolded his arms and smiled at him with a glimmer in his eye Ethan felt his finger tips tingle with a new kind of excitement.

"You like me that way?"

 _Yes. I can't help it but I do..._ Ethan thought.

Ethan's throat was dry and his heart pounded in his ears. He could tell Robin how he felt and be truthful to himself consequences be damned. But it was easier to lie.

Ethan laughed dismissively forcing his emotions to the back of his mind.

"Come on dude, be serious, Super-kid was probably messing with us on purpose"

The Boy Wonder's shoulders dropped and his smile faltered for a moment. Ethan tried to ignore how disappointed he looked, reciting to himself that it was _nothing,_ he was reading into it too much.

"Yeah probably...so Batman actually sent me here, got some good news"

"You found an alarm clock I _can't_ break?!"

"No- wait did you break _another_? Never mind, not important, what I was going to say was you might have your first mission in a few days"

"Really? Thought I was still in training"

"Technically yes, but this'll be an easy one, just depends if we can arrange the disguises in time"

"Huh?"

"We'll be on guard duty, Superboy and M'gann are going under cover in Belle Reve while you and I keep an eye on the twins they're disguising themselves as"

Ethan's heart stopped.

"Twins?"

"Terror Twins, Tommy and Tuppence Terror, heard of them?"

 _Shit._

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 _Would love to hear peoples thoughts about the story! (If you're enjoying it so far/if there's grammar/spelling errors that I missed, would be super helpful!)_

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